It Started With A Bet?
by Usearki
Summary: Kakashi and Gai get drunk and Kakashi is challenged to make Sakura his girlfriend. Lee is stalking Sakura just to make things complicated. Can love blossom from this strange set of circumstances? KakaSaku [COMPLETE]
1. Prologue and Authors Note

So, here I am, writing once again after a long absence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am writing this for fun and because a mutated plot bunny got hold of me and would not let me go.

Characters in this story may well be OOC. Also I am treating this as at least partial AU because I am not a total Narutard that knows everything about everything and I've probably got a ton of things wrong. Not to mention that by the time the manga/anime ends this story is bound to be totally out of whack anyway. :-P

Main pairing: Kakashi x Sakura

Please see Authors note at the end for further explanations if you feel so inclined. :-D

So, let's get on with the show.

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Prologue.

The sun rose on a beautiful and peaceful morning over the hidden village of Konoha.

However, Hatake Kakashi, the copy ninja, did not feel that it was such a nice morning. As he blinked blearily in the early morning light he noted that he felt as if Pakkun had used his mouth for a toilet and then stood on top of his head and done a tap-dance wearing heavy boots… and why were those darned birds singing so loudly?

Sigh "now I remember why I don't like to go drinking" he said to himself as he made sure that his ever-present mask was securely in place and positioned his forehead protector over his Sharingan eye. As he did this, his normal eye noticed a crumpled piece of paper that was just peeking out from under his pillow. Slowly he picked it up, knowing in the pit of his already roiling stomach that the contents were not going to make good reading.

His eye widened as he read what was written….

"Oh shit."

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oooo Flashback to previous afternoon oooo

Kakashi sat facing the window in the Jounin Bar with his… well he'd lost count of how many drinks he'd had by now, but it was a lot. He was half heartedly listening to Gai, his self-proclaimed "eternal rival" carry on boisterously about…. Well, whatever. He had stopped listening to what the idiot was actually saying several minutes ago.

"How did I get myself into this" he thought fuzzily to himself as the alcohol took further effect. There had been a fairly large group to start with, but everyone else had drifted away until it was just Gai and himself. He gave a mental shrug; it didn't really seem that important anymore. He put his glass down with a quiet clink and let out an appreciative sigh.

Gai grimaced as he noted that Kakashi had finished yet another drink. "Ah, my eternal rival, how is it that even when you are approaching the most drunken of stupors, you can drink and yet keep that face of yours hidden behind that mask?"

Kakashi looked up and blearily fixed Gai's gaze with his one exposed eye. "That, Gai, is a trade secret."

"Ah, Kakashi, you are no fun!" Gai said mournfully as he slumped back in his seat.

Silently they stared out of the window watching the people pass by, whatever rational conversation that could occur between these two having been exhausted for the moment. Kakashi sighed as he saw Sakura being followed by Lee who was trying to be inconspicuous, but failing terribly dressed as he was in his trademark green spandex suit. Sakura knew he was following her and she had a face like thunder.

"Ah! Sakura," Gai enthused, "Such a beautiful flower of young womanhood! She is wasting her burning youth away pining after Sasuke, whilst Lee has devoted his youthfulness to her…"

"Oh come off it Gai," said Kakashi, "You are deluding yourself as much as Lee is. She just does not like him in that way. He is wasting HIS "burning youth" chasing after her like that! Besides, she got over Sasuke a long time ago."

"But it has been, what, 3 or 4 years now since the rescue of the the Uchiha boy? And yet since then she has turned down every single person that asks her out. She must still hold a torch for him… Such a waste of youth," Gai continued mournfully.

"She's still young, there's plenty of time for her to find someone. Besides, she has been busy with her studies under Tsunade and she doesn't get asked out much, I think Lee scares any potential suitors off," Kakashi slurred. "Hell, even I would have more chance with Sakura than Lee does."

"Hmm, if what you say is true…" Gai pondered drunkenly for a moment, He couldn't believe that Kakashi had given him the perfect opening! "In that case I propose a bet!"

"A bet?"

"Yes a bet, or a challenge if you will. You shall do your best to make Sakura your girlfriend within the span of one month…"

"Hey hey, she is my student…"

"WAS your student, she has not truthfully been that since she started studying to be a medic nin under Tsunade, even if you do train with her from time to time…"

"But she is 14 years my junior, that can't be right!"

"Ah! Kakashi, love knows not of these boundaries," Gai clapped Kakashi on the shoulder, then gave him a drunken, yet calculating look; it would almost seem that he could hear a hint of denial in the copy-nin's voice. "Or are you chicken?"

Now normally Kakashi would have blown him off, but excessive alcohol consumption can render even the most rational of minds insensible. He gave Gai a sidelong look in return, "So, what are the terms of this… bet?"

Gai pondered for a moment, "Hmmm… ok, if you can manage to secure the beautiful flower that is Sakura to be your girlfriend then I, the beautiful green beast of Konoha, will run around the village 1000 times wearing only a loincloth whilst beating myself with a brush. Then I will acknowledge in front of everyone in the village that you are a better ninja than I!"

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. That sounded pretty stupid, it was typical of Gai, "Aren't you going to say that you will challenge me for her hand or something?"

"Ah, as it pains me to say it, no. I doubt that Lee would forgive me if I purloined the fair damsel from under his nose."

The masked man stifled a laugh, as if Sakura would ever look at Gai as anything other than a freak. "Fine then, I'll accept your challenge. What will happen if I can't do it?"

"Then you will have to walk around Konoha for a whole day without that mask of yours. And that means nothing must cover your face and you must make sure that everyone can see you!"

Kakashi grimaced – if it had been just "without the mask" then he could have used something else to cover his face, but even though he was inebriated, Gai had covered that particular out. Still, he had accepted the challenge and it was too late to back out now. He was sure that he could find a way around it given time, but the easiest way was to make sure that he didn't lose! He gave a mock sigh, "Ok then Gai, but whatever happens can you get Lee to ease off on Sakura? What he is doing to her is harassment, and that is no way to win her over."

"Hmmm, I think that you may have a point. I will try to get him to be a little more… subtle"

Kakashi snorted. He didn't think subtlety was possible in either the teacher's or the student's case…

Whilst Kakashi was ever more drunkenly boggling at the impossibility of a subtle Gai, the said bowl cut maniac was busily scribbling on two pieces of paper. He wanted to make sure that they did not forget this come morning, plus this would make it all the harder for Kakashi to get out of.

"Here we go, just sign here and here, next to my signature!" Gai staggered as he shoved the papers under Kakashi's hand. Drunkenly thinking that he had not got a pen, he bit his thumb and signed both papers in blood.

"Ah! How fitting that you are my eternal rival! Let us each take one of these papers and let us have more drinks to celebrate this challenge!"

And that was the last coherent thing Kakashi could remember that day…

oooo End Flashback oooo

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Kakashi sat down heavily on the bed and dropped his aching head into his hands.

"Now I remember why it is never a good idea to go drinking with Gai..."

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Authors Notes - AKA convincing myself to post the story… (This is quite long - You don't have to read this, but it might help to explain a few things.)

First off I'll tell you that this is the first story I have written in about three years. If you look at my Bio you will see that I only have one other story on here. I did have a couple of others but I never managed to finish them so I removed them, and after that I just stopped writing. The other story that remains on here is a Sailor Moon one-shot.

This story is completely finished on my computer, and it took me about a month all told to write. I decided to complete it before posting to make sure that I could actually manage to finish it. The middle part was really hard and I rewrote at least 3 chapters from scratch when I thought they weren't good enough, but I made it through and I hope that the result isn't too bad. (I must admit that I'm still not 100 percent sure about it though.)

So, why did I choose to write a KakaSaku story? Well, I'd been reading a few KakaSaku and KakaIru stories around various sites and this idea suddenly came to me and I thought it would be an idea to give writing a try again.

Hell, why did I even choose to write a Naruto story? I'd always intended to write a story for the Ranma fandom but I could never come up with any good ideas for it. Naruto isn't even my favorite anime! Even though Naruto is good, Ranma, Bleach and Kyou Kara Maou are WAY above Naruto for me. (Sorry to all the die-hard Naruto fans!) That fact will probably show in my story. XD

The story didn't really go the way I first intended though, and it's probably a bit on the shallow side, but probably not quite as shallow as it might have been had it gone the way I originally planned.

I've read lots of stories that seem to have great insights into what makes the characters tick and I am in awe of them. I have also read some REALLY REALLY bad OOC stuff that made my stomach churn. I don't think this is quite that bad (the one friend that I let read it as I was writing it said it was good) but I'll leave that to your judgment.

I don't go a bundle on stories that are nothing but angst, but too much fluff and waff can make you sick, so here's hoping I've managed to hit somewhere vaguely in the middle, but perhaps towards the lighter side of things. My personal preference is for Humor, but this just didn't want to be a humor fic. I do have it in mind to write a short "what if Gai had decided to chase Sakura too" fic based on the same bet scenario another time. That could be - amusing. XD

I know the characters in this are going to be OOC. I claim that people change over time, then things happen and they change further. Shrug It's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I have treated this as a learning experience and I can see plenty of scope for improvement. (And if you think this is bad you should see the first story I ever wrote!)

So, if you decide to leave a review, please remember that my writing is very rusty and I'm just testing the waters. Please, don't flame. If you don't like it then its simple, you don't have to read it. :-)

I'm currently intending to release a chapter once every few days, maybe twice a week. As it stands there's this prologue, 9 chapters and an epilogue. I posted chapter 1 at the same time as this so you can get an idea of where the story is going.

Thanks to Tomie (TransientShia) for reading it and giving me the encouragement to carry on and finish it!

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	2. Chapter 1

And now we have chapter 1 of my little story.

Please remember that I don't own Naruto. This is at the very least slightly AU for the reasons I said at the beginning of the prologue.

Let's get on with the story. :-)

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Chapter 1

Sakura peeked nervously out of the first floor window of the medical complex into the late evening outside and frowned. He was there again, waiting for her to get out from her studies and work. He thought he was being inconspicuous, but to her well-trained senses he could not have been more obvious if he'd tried.

Ever since Sasuke had taken up with Ino a couple of years ago, Lee had taken it upon himself to "protect" Sakura. As if she needed protecting. She could look after herself!

Still, the green spandex clad Chuunin would not take no for an answer. In the beginning it was slightly flattering and amusing when she noticed him keeping watch over her, and the little presents and cards he left her seemed quite sweet, but he was now becoming more intrusive and annoying. She would be lying to herself if she did not admit that his increasing intensity scared her at least a little bit.

He was starting to approach her more often now, and he would sometimes even knock on her door to check if she was home. She was usually polite, but she had started to show him slight annoyance recently. The only time she got any real peace was when he was away on a mission, but then when he inevitably came back he seemed to get even more intense.

She sighed as she took the back stairs and sneaked out of the rear entrance. She knew that she would have to deal with him eventually as the subtle hints of annoyance were not working, but she really did not want to tonight. She was looking forward to getting back to her apartment, locking the door and drawing the curtains to avail herself of some much needed privacy. She had been putting off the inevitable confrontation for a long time now, but she was still faintly hoping that he would get a clue and move on to something, or someone else on his own.

As she was quickly making her way through the streets of Konoha, she spotted Kakashi sat slumped against a wall not far from the Jounin bar, obviously so drunk into insensibility that he'd tried to walk home, but not got very far. For a brief moment she considered walking straight on and ignoring him as she did not really like dealing with drunks, they were unpredictable at best. But her conscience wouldn't let her leave him. She would never forgive herself if something happened to him that she could have prevented. Besides, he was a team mate, and most of all, a friend.

She absently wondered where Gai had gone and whether he was any better off than Kakashi, but seeing as he was nowhere in sight she put that thought aside and concentrated on assisting the masked man.

Using her considerable strength, and noting the strong smell of alcohol, she lifted him in a fireman's carry and proceeded to make her way to where she knew his apartment was. It must have been quite a strange sight, the delicate looking pink haired young woman carrying the larger, silver haired man through the deserted streets.

"Phew, Kakashi-Sensei, you must have really been packing the drinks away," she muttered to herself as she neared her destination, thinking of how she had spotted him with Gai-Sensei in the bar a few hours earlier as she had stormed past on that stupid errand Tsunade-Sama had sent her on. She had never seen the Jounin this drunk before. Actually, she had never seen him drunk period! It was totally out of character. "I do hope you didn't do anything stupid…"

"Ah… Sakura," Kakashi mumbled in his drunken stupor, "Kawaii…"

"Now, now Kakashi-Sensei," Sakura huffed as she dragged him up the flight of steps that led to his front door, "that's just the drink talking." However she was blushing as she went and Inner Sakura was for once, speechless…did he just say I was cute?

She reached the front door of his apartment. "Now, how do I get in," she wondered. She was reluctant to search his pockets for the keys, but she could not leave him outside, and she really did not want to resort to taking him back to her own apartment. In a moment of inspiration she checked under the doormat… and found the spare key. She rolled her eyes at the stupidity of such an obvious hiding place.

Once inside she took him through to the bedroom, noting the sparseness of the apartment as she went, and the fact that it was fairly clean. She also noted with faint amusement the small bookcase filled with a collection of questionable novels in his bedroom. She supposed that everyone needed their little hobbies. She sat him carefully on the bed and removed his jacket before lying him down and removing his shoes.

She saw that he was holding what seemed to be a piece of paper in his hand, but he had it in quite a death grip and she could not get him to let it go. She tried to see what was written on it, but apart from a couple of sloppy looking characters in one corner she could not see anything. She shrugged to herself and decided to leave it. It was so dog-eared that he couldn't even get a paper cut from it.

As she removed his forehead-protector she considered taking a look under the mask, after all, she and her team mates had been trying to get a peek for years without any success. But after she thought about it for a moment, even though she could justify removing it for safety reasons she realized that it would be a cheap way to get a hollow victory, plus it would be a breach of trust. She ignored inner Sakura who was screaming for her to look and left it alone. She could remove it later, but only if she had to.

She applied a minor medical jutsu to help with the removal of the excessive amount of alcohol from his bloodstream, and then covered him with a blanket. She had to sit with him to make sure that he was going to be ok until it was safe for her to leave him, which would take several hours. After all, if he was sick whilst wearing that mask… well, it didn't really bear thinking about.

For those several hours she just sat by his bed and watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest, listening to his occasional drunken mumbling as he dreamed, totally mesmerized. She had no trouble admitting to herself that she liked him, and wished that he was more than just an occasional teacher and a friend, but she knew that he still saw her as a child and he seemed to have no interest in relationships of that sort with anybody in any case. She sighed to herself – a girl could dream, couldn't she?

When she was satisfied that he was recovered enough that it was safe to leave him, and it was clear that he was soon to awaken, she started to get ready to leave. She did not want to be there when he actually awoke, plus time was getting on and she would have to prepare for her work with Tsunade soon. She set a glass of water and 2 pills on the bedside table with a note:

ooooooooo

Take these pills and drink this when you wake up – they will help you feel better. Oh, and find a different place to keep your spare key! Anyone could have got in!

I've taken the spare key with me for now. I'll give it back to you later.

You really should look after yourself better, Kakashi-Sensei.

Sakura

ooooooooo

She had almost decided not to leave the pills and to let him suffer his way through the hangover that he would still have even though she had speeded his "recovery." But he had said she was cute, and even if it was just the drink talking it was nice to hear someone other than that idiot Lee saying such things.

She took a last look around to make sure that everything was fine, left his apartment and locked the door. Carefully looking around for any sign of Lee in the morning light, she made a dash back to her own apartment and locked the doors and hurriedly drew the curtains, sighing in relief.

Now it was not known by many, but after Sasuke had returned to Konoha he had asked Sakura out and she had turned him down, stating that she had her eye on someone else.

Naruto had then asked her out, thinking that it must be him that she liked, but he was disappointed when he got the same response. No matter how they tried, she would not give the information on who she liked, although she was adamant that it was not Lee, to their combined relief.

They tried all sorts of stupid things to get her to confess, which normally meant that Naruto pestered her and Sasuke just looked on and gave the occasional comment. This happened whenever Team 7 met up, which was usually once a week, barring missions or other circumstances. Kakashi would watch proceedings with an amused air, then go back to reading the latest Icha Icha novel and not get involved.

Eventually, as Sakura had hoped, both Sasuke and Naruto had grown tired of asking and had moved on to other things, although they usually asked her at least once when they met up. It was a kind of running joke, and Sakura took it in good spirits. She didn't mind too much as it was nice to see Sasuke with a sense of humor.

After a while, when Sasuke had satisfied the Hokage that he was loyal to Konoha, he was allowed to take the exam to be made Chuunin, which he passed. During the celebrations he asked Ino out, which had made her extremely happy. She rubbed Sakura's face in it for a while until it was clear that Sakura didn't care. Sakura would never tell Ino that Sasuke had asked her out first. That would not be fair to Sasuke who seemed to be fairly happy with the Yamanaka girl. Ino would not have taken it at all well if she felt that she was second best.

Well, they were happy for a short while anyway. After Ino got over actually having 'won' Sasuke, they grew apart and had since moved on.

Naruto had made Chuunin before Sasuke much to the dark haired boy's annoyance, and it was possible that he would soon be Jounin. He had stayed single for a while, but eventually he noticed the shy Hyuuga Hinata, and despite her father's initial protests (he came around when he was quietly and forcefully reminded by Tsunade that Naruto would one day be Hokage,) they had married a few weeks ago. They were very happy together, even though their personalities were so very contrasting.

Sakura pondered her "crush" as she washed her face and prepared for the day ahead. She was not sure it could be called a Crush anymore as she had been carrying it for many years now. It had developed over quite a while, although she had only really started to notice it towards the end of the period when Sasuke was with Orochimaru and Naruto was training with Jiraiya.

But last night he had called her cute!

Still, no need to get carried away, it was probably just the drink talking. Even so, it was a small ray of hope.

She thought about the spare key she had taken with her from his apartment. She hadn't really needed to take it with her, but it meant that she could check that he was ok when he came to retrieve it without having to chase him all over Konoha. It wasn't that she wanted to see him again, nope not at all…

She yawned widely as she set out for her day at work with Tsunade. She hadn't had any sleep last night, but what kind of ninja would she be if she could not cope with that?

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Kakashi read through the offending document one more time. He sighed with relief. At least it did not say that he had to sleep with Sakura. There was no way that he could destroy her honor over a stupid drunkard's bet. Besides, Sasuke and Naruto would kill him… and possibly the Hokage would too… well, they would try anyway. He would normally have smirked at that thought, but it was strangely unamusing in this situation.

This bet was dangerous ground for the copy ninja. He liked Sakura, but he had long since vowed that any relationship with the pink haired young woman, or any other woman for that matter, (hang on a minute – since when had he started thinking about Sakura as a woman?) would never develop beyond friendship. He was scarred from losing too many people close to him over the years, and he still felt that not getting too close to anyone was the only way to avoid that pain again. With this bet, there was a danger that his guard, if he let it down, could not be put back up. Still, he pondered, maybe it would be worth it…

He shook his head in denial and cursed himself for possibly the 100th time in the last 5 minutes. How on earth could he be so stupid? He was deluding himself as badly as Lee was; it had to be impossible for her to like him in that fashion anyway! Besides, he did NOT feel anything like that for her. He would not allow it… No way…

Finally he raised his eye and noticed the drink, pills and note left on his bedside table. He groaned as he read the note. Of all people, Sakura had brought him home. How could it get any worse? Judging by the temperature of the cool glass of water, it had not been long since she had left. It had probably been the barely audible snick of the door closing as she left that had woken him.

He sighed as he stood up and moved away from the bed. After he had put his copy of the "contract" in a safe place, he downed the pills with the water and headed for the shower to try to clear his head.

He would have to go to see Sakura and apologize. It wasn't that he wanted to see her… nope, not at all.

But first, a visit to Gai was in order…

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Authors Notes.

I gotta say that whenever I read a fic where a character is putting someone else to bed, I'm always amused when they think that the person being put to bed has to be completely undressed, or changed into sleepwear. I know it can be a convenient plot point, and it is sometimes amusing, but it is totally unnecessary. :-P Just so you know. :-P

This part originally contained chapter 2 as well, but Tomie thought it was too long so I split it. It was a good move as the length more closely matches the other chapters now.

Please remember, no flames. I'm writing this for fun. :-)

And once again, thanks to Tomie (TransientShia) for reading it and giving me the encouragement to carry on.

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	3. Chapter 2

Hi, welcome back to my little fic.

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto. I have written this for fun and because a rabid plot bunny got hold of me and wouldn't let me go.Characters may well be OOC for reasons I've explained before.

Authors Notes will be at the end of the chapter.

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Chapter 2

Kakashi knocked on Gai's front door, "Oi, are you home," he called as he waited. He'd gone there as soon as he'd showered and dressed hoping that Gai would still be so drink befuddled that he'd be able to get out of the challenge before the annoying man realized what was going on.

Eventually the door opened to reveal the so called Green beast of Konoha looking decidedly greener in the face than he normally would.

"Hey Gai, that look suits you, you match your green suit," Kakashi chuckled.

"Ah, my eternal rival! What brings you to my house so early on this fine morning?" Gai winced as he tried to enthuse.

Kakashi decided to get to the point, "I'm here about that bet…"

"You wouldn't be thinking of trying to get out of it would you?" Gai blearily looked at the masked ninja, "We both signed it and its binding. You'd have to become a missing-nin to avoid carrying out the terms on that paper we signed." Well, ok, maybe that was exaggerating a little, but Gai wasn't going to give in easily.

Kakashi grimaced. He should have known that hung over or not, Gai would refuse to let it go. "Come on now Gai, it's just between us. Surely you can let it slide? I'll even show you my face if you are THAT desperate to see it…"

"Ah, the shame of it, my eternal rival is trying to welsh on our bet! I'm sorry Kakashi, no can do. It is not the Ninja way!"

Kakashi sighed and put on a brave face, "Ok ok, looks like I'll have to go through with it then," he said with sudden mock cheerfulness. "Ja ne!" Not for the first time, he was totally relieved that the paper did not say that he had to bed Sakura.

Gai slumped as Kakashi showed himself out and wondered how the masked jounin could possibly be so… chipper… this morning.

Of course, he could have let him out of the "challenge", after all, they were both well on the road to drunken oblivion when it had come to pass, and it was particularly stupid of them to involve the honor of a third party. It also seemed a bit unfair that Kakashi was the only one having to do anything.

The thing that stopped him from giving in? He was curious about the hint of denial he thought he had heard in Kakashi's voice the previous day.

Maybe there was something in it, maybe not, but it was worth holding on to the contract for the moment to see if something came out of it. Thinking of that, Gai made the effort to move and put it in a safe place. It would be no fun if his eternal rival could get out of the bet THAT easily…

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Later that day, after having been home for a proper sleep and not an alcohol induced one, Kakashi sat in a tree reading his favorite book. He idly wondered how he was going to address the problem he now found himself facing.

Well, he still needed to apologize to Sakura and thank her for what she had done. That could be a good place to start.

After a few minutes consideration he closed the book with a snap and jumped down from the tree. He headed towards the Yamanaka flower shop.

After all, nothing said it like flowers. Well, that's what he had heardanyway.

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The Hokage watched Sakura perform the latest medical jutsu she had been taught with light worry. Her student was trying to avoid yawning, and she had dark circles under her eyes. Tsunade took a surreptitious sip of Sake as Sakura was looking in the other direction.

"Sensei?" Sakura enquired tiredly as she heard a slight clink coming from her teacher's general direction, "you aren't drinking again are you?"

Tsunade jumped and put her hand behind her head in embarrassment at being caught, "No! Of course not Sakura chan."

"I'm glad about that. I've had enough of drunks to last me a while… you'll never believe what happened last night…"

Tsunade was intrigued by Sakura's story. She had never thought that Kakashi would ever get so drunk that he would not even be able to get home, and she wondered what was up with the normally stoic man. Thankfully it had turned out ok, but it would give her another headache as she would have to keep an eye on the Jounin for a while in case there was more to this than just a case of someone misjudging their tolerance for alcohol.

After Sakura finished her slightly edited story, after all there were certain things that she didn't need to tell the older woman, Tsunade sent her home for the day. Sakura gratefully accepted and headed home for some much needed sleep.

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KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Sakura cursed as she threw herself out of the shower and pulled on a pair of soft pink PJ's and a huge robe. She would be damned if she would answer the door in just a towel and give Lee a free show that he would be able to fantasize over for weeks… She grimaced at the mental image.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Sakura stomped towards the door. All she really wanted to do now was dry her hair and go to bed After all, she had got no sleep at all last night and Tsunade had worked her hard until she had been sent home. She scowled as she threw open the door, "WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW…" she all but screamed into the face of...

...A bunch of flowers? She looked up in surprise to find the masked countenance of none other than Hatake Kakashi.

"Expecting someone else?" he drawled lazily as he leaned on the doorframe.

Sakura was flustered for a moment as she took the proffered flowers, but quickly recovered. "ah, no, not at all Kakashi-Sensei. Please come in."

As they moved into the living room she asked, "Are you feeling better now, Kakashi-Sensei? And thank you for the flowers, they are very nice." She moved into the kitchen to find a vase for them. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes please, coffee would be good." As he sat down, in answer to her unspoken question he called through, "The flowers are a thank you for staying with me last night and for the medication. I felt a lot better than I should have done this morning. I'm sorry for putting you to so much trouble."

"Ah, that's Ok Kakashi-Sensei, it was no trouble to stay with you." Sakura faintly blushed as she returned with the steaming beverages, then she fetched the vase of flowers and placed them in the middle of the table. "You shouldn't drink so much in one sitting though, it's bad for you."

She sat next to him on the couch and took a sip of coffee, then looked at him appraisingly. "It's not like you to drink so much. You didn't do anything… stupid did you?"

For a fleeting moment Kakashi considered telling her about the bet and asking her to help him out, but he quickly discounted that idea. Sakura would most likely laugh at his predicament, then get extremely annoyed and tell him to deal with it himself so he would lose the bet by default. Besides, he found that he really did not want her to be upset with him.

Instead, he smiled in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head, "No, not that I can remember anyway. And you are right, I don't drink much as a rule. After all, a ninja must normally keep their wits about them." He considered a moment, "From what I remember it seemed turn into some kind of competition…"

Sakura rolled her eyes when Kakashi mentioned competition. It was so typical of the masked man and the green-clad idiot. "Well at least you didn't get into any real trouble." She smiled as she made to get up, "Now I'll just go and get your spare key…"

"No no, it's ok, you keep it," Kakashi put his hand on Sakura's shoulder before she could make a move, "It will be a lot safer with you than under my doormat, and besides, if you ever need somewhere to go then you are more than welcome to use it."

Sakura looked confused for a moment, shaken by the close contact. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could say anything, he continued, "It's OK Sakura, I trust you. Anyone that wouldn't look under my mask when I was incapacitated must be trustworthy," he said in a slightly amused tone.

"How did you know that I didn't look?" Sakura wondered out loud.

Kakashi gave her an inscrutable look "I didn't know for sure until just now."

Sakura was slightly put out for a moment that he had outsmarted her before she even had a chance to tease him over his mask, but she recovered quickly and asked, "Are you sure you want me to keep the key?"

"Hai hai, it'll make an old man happy," he said jovially. He wanted her to keep it in case the Lee boy became too much and she needed somewhere to go; a safe-house, but he didn't need to tell her that as he was sure that she refuse him out of stubborn pride. Besides, he could use it as an excuse to see her. He nodded to himself; it was all about the bet.

"Mou, Kakashi-Sensei, you aren't old…" Sakura pulled a face.

Kakashi smirked. That pouty-face looked so cute. "In that case just call me Kakashi. The Sensei part makes me feel older than I should now that you are all grown up."

"Umm, ok… Kakashi," She looked up at him as she said it experimentally without the honorific, and she felt a jolt go through her as she met his one exposed eye. Kakashi was looking at her strangely, almost as if... She opened her mouth as if to say something, but the moment was interrupted when…

"Sakura, Sakura you'll never guess what…" Sakura internally cursed that she had not locked the door. It was Ino, all worked up about something. Kakashi, much to Sakura's disappointment, had Poofed out just before the Yamanaka girl appeared. Sakura wondered what had just happened in that moment, but she dismissed it as her imagination brought on by lack of sleep. There was no way Kakashi would be interested in her like that, he still looked upon her as a child… But hadn't he just said that she had grown up?

"What is it, Ino-Pig," Sakura said more sharply than she had intended. She was feeling miffed, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she knew in the pit of her stomach that Kakashi would not be back that evening.

"Well, forehead girl," Ino beganin slight annoyance, Sakura winced and looked at Ino apologetically. She deserved that. Over the years, but especially after Sasuke and Ino had gone their separate ways, the girls had got over their petty rivalry and had once again become good friends.

Ino brightened up, "Oh Kami, Sakura, you'll never believe it! Kakashi-Sensei came into the shop and bought a bunch of flowers! Everyone is buzzing about who they might be for…"

Sakura jolted. Kakashi had obviously forgotten how the rumor mill worked around here. "Mou, is that all Ino? Damn it, even Kakashi is only human. Now would you mind leaving? I'm sorry, but I'm really tired as I had no sleep last night and all I want to do is go to bed." She got up and pushed Ino towards the door hoping that her friend wouldn't notice the flowers on the table, but she was out of luck

"Ooh, Sakura, the flowers were for you?" Ino all but squealed as she spotted the blooms.

Sakura stopped and sighed, "Yes, but it's not what you think," she replied in resignation at being caught, "I helped him out of a bad situation last night and he brought those to thank me."

"Oh, come off it Sakura, Kakashi-Sensei wouldn't buy flowers just for that, there must be more to it."

"No, Ino, There isn't," she insisted. although she started once again at Ino's words. After all, it was quite out of character for the masked man. Then she thought about what Lee might do. Sakura lowered her voice almost to a whisper, "Please, you can't tell anyone about this," she pleaded, "If Lee-san finds out then he'll be worse than ever."

"Oh Sakura, you should really report him to the Hokage. This is more than just an innocent crush, its harassment! Deal with him now before he gets even worse."

Sakura's expression closed. "I can handle it," she said, "No need to involve the Hokage. Please, just keep it to yourself?"

Ino sighed, "Ok Sakura, I won't say anything about the flowers, but promise me that you'll tell someone if Lee-san gets any worse."

"Hai hai, I promise. Now please, can I get some sleep?"

As she left the apartment, Ino noted a green figure trying to make itself inconspicuous nearby. She shook her head. That boy was getting to be more trouble than he was worth. She turned and started to head towards home, but stopped sharply and looked back the way she had come as something occurred to her…

Not only had there been two cups of coffee on the table, but Sakura had been acting weird, as if something had been interrupted and…

"She didn't call him Sensei!"

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Authors Notes.

Wow, thank you for the wonderful reviews. Everyone has been so positive I'm overwhelmed.

To 'Me': I don't have a LiveJournal account although I do frequent a a couple of sites on there, including at least one KxS one.(BTW - the link did not come out in your review - FF Net is funny like that.) Also I'm keeping the character count down for the sake of keeping the story simple.

Also thanks to Eboki, Prissy, Allyluv, Twx, December Jewel, and Aredhl. I'm glad you all enjoyed it so far.

I've upped the rating a bit for safety though. I'm not really up on this new ratings system they've brought in and I think I rated it a little low - especially for later chapters.

Look out for the next chapter in a few days.

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	4. Chapter 3

Welcome back for another helping :)

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto. This is written for fun and because my cousin, RabidPlotBunny, got ahold of me and made me write it. Characters may be OOC.

Since someone asked Sakura is about 19. This would make Kakashi about 33. 14 years age gap is not insurmountable. XD

And - at the top this time - Thanks to TransientShia for reading it first and giving me the encouragement to carry on and finish the story.

And what is it with the editing tool on here that keeps removing spaces from between words? I've checked through several times, but apologies if I missed any!

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Chapter 3

Kakashi poofed back into existence in the alley next to Sakura's apartment block. He leaned back against the wall and let out a breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. What the hell had just happened there?

He was undecided as to whether the Yamanaka girl's interruption was a good or a bad thing, but he cursed the disturbance anyway.

As he stood there trying to gather himself he could not get the image of Sakura out of his mind. She glowed in the soft evening light, pink hair, long since grown out again, damply cascading down her back, a light blush on her flawless features, luminous green eyes sparkling with emotion… he could almost feel his internal barriers begin to crumble…

He shook his head in an effort to dispel the image. This was getting complicated already, and he hadn't even started to seriously make an effort with his "mission." He could do this, he told himself. He was the great Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi, who had come up against worse odds and made it through. All he had to do was get her to go out with him for a while and then let her down gently. Still, he could give it a couple of days before making contact with Sakura again. He did have a whole month to do this after all. There was no rush.

With that thought in mind, he sauntered off down the street in the general direction of Ichiraku Ramen. He wasn't sure why, but he had quite a craving for that particular dish this evening.

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As it happened it would be more than a week before he saw Sakura again. She had missed the weekly meeting of Team Seven because of an emergency in the medical centre and Kakashi found that he was strangely disappointed at the absence of the pink haired girl. The masked man was more distant than usual, which did not escape the notice of Naruto or Sasuke, and neither boy was surprised when he made his excuses to leave rather earlier than he normally would.

"Che, I wonder what's up with him?" Sasuke had wondered in a disinterested tone once he'd gone.

"Bah! Ero-Sensei is weird…" Naruto could not truly bring himself to care. His first priority at the moment was the steaming bowl of Ramen in front of him.

"Dobe," was the only reply Sasuke gave as Naruto dug in. How on earth did Hinata put up with the hyperactive young man?

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It was late afternoon a few days after the "meeting" and Kakashi was on his way back from a short mission he'd been sent on. He was heading, rather tardily, in the general direction of mission HQ when he saw something that made him stop.

Sakura was being accosted by Lee, who was down on his knees, spouting off. The girl looked both annoyed and embarrassed as the exchange continued, and despite her obvious feelings, Lee was being rather persistent.

Kakashi felt something unfamiliar rise in him as he watched the scene unfolding. As Sakura tried to walk away, Lee reached out and grabbed the pink haired girl.

Hatake Kakashi growled to himself. He was not going to stand for that!

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Sakura was on her way home from the medical center when she ground to a halt as she found her path blocked by a nauseating vision in green. "Hello Lee-San," she said letting a slight trace of annoyance leak into her words, "what can I do for you today?"

"Ah! Sakura-San!" Lee dropped to his knees, "The most beautiful blossom in all of Konoha, so delicate and so beautiful, a goddess descended from the heavens..."

Sakura grimaced as she listened to the Chuunin carrying on, he'd already managed to say beautiful twice in that sentence.

"I would date with you!" Lee finally finished seeming pretty proud of himself, the confidence that he would get a positive answer shining through.

"I am sorry Lee san, but as you well know I am interested in someone else…"

Lee stood up, "But Sasuke-kun isn't interested in you! You cannot pine after him forever! If you go out with me…"

"Lee-san!" Sakura interrupted wondering just when the idiot would get a clue, "I am sorry, but I am NOT interested. Now if you would please excuse me," she made to walk away when she felt a hand grab her arm.

"Sakura-san…" Lee said intensely.

"Let me go!" This was the first time he had dared to touch her and Sakura was half scared. She might be strong herself, but the tai-jutsu specialist had a grip of steel. She was about to attempt an escape when…

"Hey, Sakura," a familiar voice called. Lee let her go and she turned around to find the welcome sight of the masked Jounin casually sauntering towards them.

"Ah, Lee-San," Kakashi said with barely concealed contempt, pretending to notice the green idiot for the first time, "I do believe that Gai-Sensei was looking for you." He seemed to be very casual, but Sakura could see a steely glint in his eye. She was sure that if Lee hadn't let her go…

Lee bowed. If he was annoyed at the interruption he did not show it. "Thank you Kakashi-Sensei. I will go to find him now." He turned and left.

Kakashi turned his attention to the pink haired young woman. "Are you alright?" He let a small amount of worry seep into his voice.

Sakura, whilst grateful for the rescue, was still slightly annoyed at the interference. "I'm fine Kakashi-Sensei."

The unspoken "I can look after myself" was obvious, but Kakashi chose to ignore it. "I thought we'd agreed to drop the Sensei part," he said gently.

"H-hai. Sorry Kakashi." She looked away and hoped that he would not notice her tremble. She had replayed the scene from her apartment in her head over and over again since that evening. She was not sure what it meant, but the thought that he might come to like her as something more than a friend both excited and scared her.

He noticed a slight tremor go through her, but interpreted it wrongly. "Hey, you are all shaken up. Let me take you for coffee. It will help you feel better."

"But don't you have a mission report to give?" Sakura made a token protest, knowing that he had been away on a mission, and unsure as of yet whether he had reported in.

"It's ok," He waved a hand dismissively, "They are used to me being late. A little longer won't make any difference."

She considered sending him straight to hand his report in, but she really did not want to be alone right now. Decision made, she said, "In that case, yes, I would be glad to join you for coffee."

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"Gai-Sensei!" Rock Lee called out as he spotted his role model. After running a short errand he had been searching for his teacher on the word of Kakashi-Sensei

"LEE!" Gai enthused.

"Gai-Sensei!"

As was usual when these two got together, this went on for quite some time, until Gai asked, "Did you want something Lee?"

Lee looked confused. "Kakashi-Sensei said that you had been looking for me."

"He did?" Gai was surprised for a moment, but then remembered back to what Kakashi had asked him in the Bar. It seemed likely that he had caught Lee making a nuisance of himself with the Haruno girl. "Ah, yes. Lee, I need to speak with you on a matter of the gravest importance."

Lee listened carefully as Gai eloquently told him many, many things that essentially boiled down to the fact that he should back off Sakura and leave her alone.

He considered Gai's words in his own warped little world for a moment, then jumped to a conclusion. It was a test! A test to see if he could be worthy to win the beautiful flower that was Haruno Sakura! He resolved that he would pass their test and prove to everyone that he was more than worthy!

Haruno Sakura would be his!

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Kakashi and Sakura sat opposite each other at a table in the small café that he had chosen. They had sat quietly for quite a while, and there seemed to be an unusual tension in the air. Kakashi decided that it had gone on for long enough.

"Is there something wrong, Sakura?"

"No, there is nothing wrong."

"You know, if that boy is bothering you…" Kakashi tailed off. He still held quite some annoyance towards the boy that had been bothering Sakura.

"It's nothing Kakashi, I can handle it." Sakura refused to meet his gaze. He decided to let the subject of Lee drop. Although he knew it was a problem, which he resolved to keep a closer eye on, he thought that it was something else that was bothering the pink haired girl now.

"Have I done something to upset you?"

Her head shot up. "No, no, you haven't upset me." She smiled wanly at him, unconsciously showing the extent to which the incident with Lee had shaken her. She looked so vulnerable in that moment that he felt something inside him crack.

On impulse he reached out, grabbed her hand and caught her eye with his own. "Sakura," he began, but he was unable to finish…

"Kakashi! What are you doing in here? I've been waiting for your mission report."

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Umino Iruka grumbled to himself as he walked down the road. It had been reported that Kakashi had returned to Konoha several hours ago, but he was even later than usual as he was still to make an appearance to give in his mission report. Kakashi was the last ninja left to report that day and Iruka had drawn the short straw so he was stuck waiting for him until he finally decided to show.

Eventually, stomach grumbling, Iruka decided to leave the office for a few moments to grab something to eat. If his habitually late friend turned up whilst he was out then tough, he would have to wait for a change.

He waited at the counter of a small café as he ordered a sandwich to take out. As he looked around he spotted a familiar shock of silver hair. He made his way over.

"Kakashi! What are you doing in here? I've been waiting for your mission report."

"Iruka," Kakashi replied as he quickly let go of Sakura's hand. "I'm sorry I'm so late but I was helping a damsel in distress."

Iruka was skeptical. "Come on now, Kakashi, do you really expect me to believe that?"

"Actually Iruka-Sensei," Sakura started to speak. Iruka looked shocked as he had been so focused on his silver haired target that he had not noticed that anyone else was sitting there, "It's my fault that Kakashi is later than usual. Please accept my apologies."

Iruka was speechless.

"You see, I was telling the truth." Kakashi seemed amused. "I tell you what, just let me escort the young lady home and I'll come straight to give you my report."

"Ah, OK." Iruka had found his voice but he was still shocked that Kakashi had actually got a half-decent excuse for his excessive lateness this time He knew that Sakura would not back him up unless he was telling the truth. "Please don't be too long. I really would like to get home before midnight."

"Hai hai," Kakashi said in his usual off hand manner as he stood up. "I promise I won't be long."

"Goodbye, Iruka-Sensei," Sakura said politely as she left with the masked man.

"Goodbye Sakura-Chan. See you later Kakashi."

Iruka looked bemused as he walked back to the mission office in the early evening light with his order. He almost felt as if he had disturbed something between the green eyed young woman and the masked man. He shook his head. That was ridiculous… wasn't it?

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Kakashi pondered as he walked in companionable silence towards the home of his pink haired companion. He was thinking about the fact that he'd nearly said… something before Iruka had stopped him, and the possible implications.

Sakura broke the silence. "Ano… What was it you wanted to tell me before we were interrupted?"

"Ah, it was nothing important." He felt it was better to say nothing, at least for the moment.

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

He looked up, "We're here," he said redundantly.

"Yes, would you like to come in for a moment?" she enquired. She looked up at him a little expectantly.

"Ah, I'm sorry, but I'd better go. If I don't get my mission report in soon, Iruka might actually try to kill me. Thank you for the backup though."

"That's OK. After all, you did help me out earlier, so now we are even for today." She smiled, "See you later, Kakashi."

"Hai, see you later." And with that he poofed out.

She smiled as she watched the smoke dissipate. That was a typical Kakashi exit, and one of the many things she liked about him. As she walked into her apartment block she wondered again what it was that he was going to say to her before they had been interrupted. It had been nice to feel his hand on hers and she held a warm feeling inside from the memory.

She was sure, he DID like her. Now how to get him to act on it?

As she reached her apartment, she noticed a box of chocolates and a bunch of flowers next to the door. She felt sick to her stomach as she picked them up and read the card with the flowers that professed Lee's undying love for her. She carefully made a show of taking them out to the trash in case he was watching, then quickly returned to her apartment and locked the door.

When would he give it up?

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Kakashi poofed into Mission HQ, almost scaring Iruka into a heart attack in the process

"Here you go, one mission report," the masked Jounin smirked as he gave his friend the papers.

Iruka looked annoyed and then quickly scanned through the documents. "Hmm, these seem to be in order. I'll have to read through them properly tomorrow though. I really do need toget going…" He looked up to find that Kakashi seemed to be deep in thought and didn't seem to have taken any note of what he'd just said.

Iruka called the Jounin's name several times and got no response. He sighed, got up and waved his hand in front of the copy-ninja's one visible eye. "Earth to Kakashi, is there anyone in there?"

Kakashi started. "Ah, sorry Iruka, I was miles away."

"I could tell." Iruka decided to play a hunch. "Could it have something to do with a certain pink haired young woman that I saw you with earlier?"

Kakashi was silent. Iruka decided to take that as a yes. "Have you asked her out yet?" He was rewarded with a slump of the shoulders. That was a no then. "Maybe you should."

"Should what?"

"Ask her out."

"But she might say no."

"She might say yes."

"I'm 14 years older than she is…"

"I don't think that is a problem."

"But she was my student..."

"Hatake Kakashi," Iruka began in his sternest school teacher's voice, "Stop making excuses, or is the famous Copy-Ninja of Konoha too scared to ask a girl out?"

"Maa, it's not that I'm scared, it's just…" he tailed off into silence.

"Hai hai, I understand, but we all have to move on sometime."

Kakashi looked up sharply, giving Iruka a warning glare. Iruka stood there, arms crossed, seemingly unintimidated.

"You aren't the only one to have lost people you know," the scarred Chuunin said more gently than Kakashi was expecting. Iruka knew that he was probably the only person that could get away with saying this to his masked friend, and even he was still afraid that he was pushing his luck.

He took a deep breath and pressed on. "There always comes a time to move on. Nobody expects you to forget what happened, but do you really think that they would want you to spend the rest of your time alone?"

Kakashi knew who Iruka meant by "they" and he felt annoyance rise, then subside. After all, the scarred Chuunin was only echoing the conclusions that Kakashi himself had slowly come to over the last few years. Watching his one-time students and the rest of the 'rookie nine' come through adversity, never giving up and then moving on to the future had changed something in the masked man. However, he knew that even considering getting involved with anyone would mean that he was finally ready to let go of the past and take a chance on the future himself. It was a big step to take.

Well, if he was totally honest with himself, becoming friends with Iruka had been the first step on that long road, but that was a different story and this was a whole new ball game.

He thought for a moment, then decided to raise another objection. "What if there is another war? I know Konoha is at peace for now, and there are currently no signs of hostilities, but one day I may be sent on a mission I might not come back from. What then?"

"Sakura is a ninja too, if I might remind you of that. She knows what is involved. Besides, if there is another war then SHE might get sent out and not come back. Medic-nins don't just sit in the hospital you know." Iruka looked satisfied as Kakashi looked up, shock visible on his face even through the mask, making it clear that he hadn't even given that a thought.

"You can't keep living your life on what-ifs that may never happen, and even you deserve some happiness. Do you really want to die alone, regretting that you had never even tried and wondering if it could have worked? As I said before, she knows the stakes."

Kakashi sat there deep in thought. What Iruka had said was true, but if they got involved and something happened to her, would he be able to face the pain of losing someone close to him again? Was it worth the risk? He was brought back to himself as Iruka spoke.

"You know what? We are really getting way ahead of ourselves here. Go see her and take it from there." Iruka had tried his hardest, now it was all down to Kakashi.

"Ah, maybe you are right," Kakashi waved nonchalantly as he got up and walked toward the door. At the very least Iruka had given him something to think about. "Thank you Iruka-Sensei."

"It was nothing Kakashi," Iruka smiled, "Let me know how it goes!"

He didn't get a response, but then, he hadn't really expected one.

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Authors Notes.

AznNarutoGrl-91 - I know Lee is bad - he's going to get worse (or as TDotShia put it, "Freaky") but there is a reason for it.

TDotShia - OMG - you DO haunt me :P and most of the changes on this chapter are in the "Iruka talks to Kakashi" part. A lot of the changes I've been making throughout are little things - add or remove a sentence here and there, substitute the odd word or change a phrase to try and make it flow better. Except for the end of chapter 9 - which I told you about on my blog :P and you'll have to wait to see how I changed it XD (evil) :P

'Me' - that link still didn't come out quite right - but that is the KxS LJ that I visit. I'll keep it in mind. :-)

Also thanks to Freakenout, Ruka-Kun, AllyLuv, Prissy and Hao'sAnjul

Next chapter : It would seem that Kakashi has forgotten that this was supposed to be about a bet and Lee gets more obsessive. What will happen? Find out in a few days.

Possibly a little more serious from here on in - I did say that it didn't want to be a humour fic XD

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	5. Chapter 4

Welcome back to chapter 4 of my fic

Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto. This was written for fun and because of a rabid plot bunny. Characters may be OOC.

Thanks to TransientShia for reading and giving me the encouragement to finish.

And the stupid editor has been up to its trick of leaving spaces out again - I've checked through but apologies if I missed any!

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Chapter 4

The next evening found Kakashi, the copy ninja, heading toward a certain green-eyed medic-nin's apartment. He told himself that he was just going to check up on her as she had clearly been upset by the incident with the green-blunder the previous day, but deep down he knew that there was more to it than that. The conversation he'd had with Iruka had proved it.

He was thinking about whether to use an excuse about locking himself out and needing the key as a reason for being there, when thinking of the key reminded him of the bet! He was amazed that he had had actually forgotten about the bet!

He stopped in shock. It wasn't about the bet, yet he still wished to see her. Of course he would be concerned, he had known her for a long time after all, but he was sure that this went beyond simple concern.

But what to do about the bet? As he slowly walked, he considered his options then shrugged to himself. At the current state of play it seemed there was a 50/50 chance he could win the bet,but for the moment he decided tojust carry on as if it didn't exist. He really did not want Sakura to end up hurt, she had enough to deal with at the moment.

As for himself? Well, whatever happened he would deal with it.

He knew the bet was stupid, and he cursed himself for getting involved with it in the first place. And damn Gai for insisting that he go through with it. He knew that he would rather pay the penalty than risk hurting his pink haired… team-mate? Friend? Something more? What exactly was she to him? He had been contemplating on it for most of the day and he thought he might just know the answer, but he had to decide what to do about it, or whether it would even be appropriate to do anything under the circumstances.

The conversation with Iruka might have been enlightening, but the scarred Chuunin did not know the full story.

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Sakura had been busying herself tidying and cleaning her apartment to try and avoid thinking about her problem with Lee, but the thoughts kept creeping to the surface.

She hated to admit it, but she was scared of what the obsessed young man might try to do next. To begin with she had not wanted to bother anyone with a problem that she was sure would go away over time, or that she could cope with herself.

After what had happened earlier that day, her confidence had wavered slightly. It was becoming clear that Lee was not going to quit on his own and she silently thanked goodness that Kakashi had "saved" her earlier. She knew that she would probably have been able to cope with it herself, but she was glad that she hadn't had to. Things could have turned… unpleasant.

At least she had managed to avoid him today.

She sighed as she finished dusting and headed to put the cleaning supplies away, starting as she heard a knock on the door.

With not a small amount of fear, she surreptitiously opened her kitchen window to provide an escape route if it were needed, then walked towards the front door.

"Who is it?" She called. She wanted to know who was there before she would even consider letting them in.

"Ah, it's me," came the muffled reply, "I've locked myself out and I need to borrow the key…"

Sakura breathed out in relief. She opened the door to let Kakashi in. "And there I was, thinking that you just wanted to see me again," She mock pouted. "Ok, just let me go get it for you."

He followed her in, cursing himself for using the excuse. Lying had become a bit of a habit, and he knew it would be better to tell the truth. "No, no, hang on a minute. That isn't the real reason I came."

Sakura turned to face the masked man. If it wasn't the key he wanted, what was it?

"Really I just came to check that you were OK. You were really shaken up yesterday."

For a moment Sakura was speechless. "Ah, it's ok, really. He didn't bother me that much." It was an obvious lie and they both knew it.

"Sakura," Kakashi said gently, "you really shouldn't let him bother you like this. It's not healthy either for you or for him. It has to stop."

Sakura looked down at the floor, Her usual demeanor washed away. "It's my problem and I really don't want to cause any trouble…"

Kakashi stared at her. She was obviously still shaken up about it. Just how long had this been going on for anyway? He'd known it had been happening for a while, but… On impulse he stepped forwards and enveloped her in a hug. She accepted the embrace and leaned into him.

They stood in silence for a few moments, until Kakashi felt it was time to speak. "Will you let me help you?" Sakura was silent. He sighed. "It's ok, I won't do anything to him. Just let me keep him away from you for a while. But if he won't take the hint…"

"I understand. If he doesn't stop I'll take it to Tsunade-Sama, I promise."

He was still holding her. Neither of them showed any sign of wishing to let go. He leaned forward and through the mask gave her a chaste kiss on her forehead then reluctantly stepped away, "I'll see you tomorrow."

As she nodded he said, "look after yourself, Sakura," then poofed out.

Sakura shakily raised a hand to her head. She still felt warm from the embrace… "He kissed me…"

She spent the rest of the evening in a daze. She forgot about the window.

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Once again Kakashi found himself knocking on the door of one Maito Gai.

Eventually, Gai opened up. "Well, if it isn't my eternal rival. Do come in."

Kakashi followed Gai to the lounge, almost tempted to pull his forehead protector over BOTH eyes. The green-ness of this house never failed to turn his stomach.

Lee, who was in the lounge, stood up. "Good evening Kakashi-Sensei."

"Good evening Lee-san," Kakashi was annoyed to see the youth there. He turned to Gai. "You already have company, maybe I should leave."

Amazingly, Gai picked up on the fact that Kakashi wanted to talk to him without the presence of his protégé. "No, it's ok. Lee, would you mind? I have something of burning importance to discuss with Kakashi-Sensei."

Lee nodded, bowed, and turned to leave. "Goodnight Gai-Sensei, Kakashi-Sensei."

"Goodnight Lee," the two men intoned as the green clone left.

Gai turned to Kakashi once he was sure Lee was gone. "Let me guess, this is about the bet."

Kakashi sighed. "Well, actually, no. Have you spoken to Lee about his behavior regarding Sakura?"

Gai sighed. "I did try to speak to him, but alas, he is delusional and seems to think it is all some kind of test to see if he is worthy of securing the cherry blossom's hand."

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed. He had half expected that. "I see. Did you know that he actually grabbed hold of her when she turned him down yesterday?"

"No way! He would never attempt to force himself upon her!"

"I saw it with my own eyes. Sakura was really shaken up. I don't think she ever expected him to become… physical."

Gai slumped. "So I expect we are taking it to the Hokage then."

Kakashi sighed, "Actually we aren't yet, she is still reluctant, soI shall be trying to… dissuade him myself."

"Really? And how are you going to do that?"

"Not by doing anything harmful, I can assure you." 'not yet anyway' he silently added.

"Hmm. I, too will keep an eye on Lee and if necessary attempt to dampen his burning youthful desire towards the beautiful flower that is not for him."

"Thank you Gai. Though you should be aware… if he becomes too persistent…"

Gai sighed again. "I understand. Although the shame is great, if it continues I shall take the matter to the Hokage myself. After all, he is my protégé, so the fault is partially mine."

"As long as we understand each other..." Kakashi tailed off and turned to leave.

Gai stood for a moment as Kakashi left, then appeared to come to some kind of resolution. He grabbed something and chased his rival into the street. "Wait, I want you to have this." He pressed a folded piece of paperinto the Jounin's hand. "In the circumstances it is not the honorable path," he muttered before he returned to his house and closed the door.

Kakashi was surprised and a little confused. That was almost out of character for Gai. He opened his palm to reveal a crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it open and his jaw dropped in amazement at the fact that his rival had, in effect, let him off the hook.

It was Gai's copy of the bet.

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Later that night, Lee was sitting outside his one true love's apartment, pondering her beauteous perfection when he noticed that her kitchen window had been left open. He thought that he'd made sure that no one was looking and was making to jump up and let himself in when...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Lee spun around. Approaching him was Kakashi.

Kakashi continued, "I don't know why you are stalking Sakura, but I'm not going to let you break into her apartment to do who knows what. You know she doesn't like you that way. What part of 'Not Interested' don't you understand?"

"But she must have left that window open for me!" Lee paused and narrowed his eyes, "This is all part of your little test isn't it?"

"This is not a test. Just stay away from her or the Hokage will get to hear about this, and I can guarantee you, she will not be happy." He spoke with deceptive calm, "But that is nothing compared to what I will do if you don't stop this." Kakashi omitted to mention that Sakura was still reluctant to deal with the nuisance as the Fuzzy-Eyebrowed menace might just take it as encouragement.

Lee said nothing. He stepped away, bowed and left. The stakes of the game had just been raised; he would have to be more careful if he wanted to claim Sakura for his own.

He wondered why she resisted so, when it was fate, written into the stars themselves that they would be together.

Still, it did not matter, she would come around eventually. Soon she would be his.

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Kakashi watched the green-clad idiot retreat from the scene with thinly veiled disgust, and a little concern.Just how delusional was he? What on earth could have happened to make him act like this? How come no one had noticed before now? The whole village had known that the boy had a crush on Sakura, but this behavior was way beyond that of an innocent crush. He believed that there was currently no chance that Lee would be dissuaded so easily, but out of respect for Sakura's wishes he would at least try.

Still, if he became too much of a bother…

As Kakashi pondered below her apartment, a groggy Sakura wandered into the kitchen to get a drink, wondering what it was that had awoken her. She was suddenly wide awake as she noticed she had left the window open.

"Shit!" she cursed to herself as she hurried to close it. Anyone could have got in. She would have to be more careful.

Kakashi heard the exclamation and noted the window closing with a sigh of relief. The thought of what could have happened left the masked man cold. It was not a feeling that he liked very much at all.

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For the next several days, Kakashi was good on his word. Every time Lee tried to approach Sakura he would instantly appear at her side, thus putting the bowl-cut maniac off.

Of course, even though Gai had also tried to again dissuade his clone, Lee was still convinced that this was a test of worthiness, so he took this as part of that test. Lee had taken time to observe Kakashi and Sakura, and he did not like what he saw. They seemed to be getting awfully close, those two.

Still, it must be part of the test… no other explanation would suffice to his deluded mind. So, biting down his frustration at not being able to get close to his beautiful flower, he continued to watch, waiting for the opportunity to speak to her again.

Of course, Lee was not the only one to notice that Sakura and Kakashi seemed to be spending a lot of time together. Naruto and Sasuke were becoming concerned.

You see, Sakura had never told either of her teammates that Lee was becoming such a big problem as they could be quite overprotective at times. Of course they had, on occasion, seen the green-clad boy approach her, but she had always dismissed any concerns Sasuke and Naruto might have had.

She knew that if they grasped the real problem, Naruto would go off half cocked and try to beat Lee to a pulp, then Sasuke would probably go in to finish the job Naruto started. It would have been a total mess that Sakura wanted to avoid, so although the boys suspected that something was up, they had remained, essentially, in the dark.

During the weekly meeting of team 7, the boys had been giving both Sakura and Kakashi funny looks. Sakura was like a sister to them, and they were naturally worried that "Ero-Sensei" was up to something perverted.

At the end of the meeting, Naruto and Sasuke watched Kakashi and Sakura leave together, just as they had arrived together, and he had only been 20 minutes late!

"Ne, Sasuke, What do you think is going on there."

"I don't know, but I don't think I like it." Sasuke was to the point.

"Maybe we should follow them." Naruto suggested, "Just to see that she is alright."

"Sounds like an idea," Sasuke agreed, "but can we start tomorrow? I have something on tonight."

"Why Sasuke, you sly dog!" Naruto couldn't resist needling his friend, "Who is it? Who is it?"

"None of your business, Dobe.."

"Ah, come on Sasuke, tell me!" Naruto continued to pester Sasuke all the way back, completely forgetting about following Sakura and Kakashi that evening.

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The next evening, Kakashi greeted Sakura as she left the medical complex to walk home. "Yo, Sakura," he called out as she approached him.

"Hi Kakashi," she was genuinely pleased to see him. She looked around nervously. "Is he about?"

"Actually I came to let you know that he's out of town with Gai for a week."

"Oh." She looked quite disappointed. If Lee wasn't in town then there would be no need for Kakashi to show up and she enjoyed him being around, even though they'd never got as… close… as they had when he'd come to see her that evening. She decided to take a chance. "Would you like to come over for a while anyway?"

He had a silent war with himself. On one hand part of him was telling him yes, go for it. The other side was telling him that perhaps it was not such a good idea. The attraction he felt was becoming stronger the more time he spent with her, but she was vulnerable at the moment and it would not be right to take advantage.

As if sensing his reluctance she added, "Please?"

He found that he really did not want to see her disappointed face. Besides, he did enjoy spending time with her. "Sure, I'll come." His visible eye turned up in a smile. She took his arm and they walked companionably down the street.

Of course, even though Lee was out of town, someone was still watching the movements of the two as they walked, and the watchers were, of course, the other members of team seven.

"Damn, Ero-Sensei IS up to something!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Dobe, let's just follow them," Sasuke replied, to the point as usual, as they moved off in hot pursuit.

After a while Sakura just had to comment. "I wonder how long they are going to follow us for?" she said in amusement tinged with exasperation. She had noticed Naruto and Sasuke almost as soon as they had left the medical center.

"Maa, I don't know. They've been following me around all day." He sounded amused. "Shall we lose them?"

"Sure!" She enthusiastically agreed. With that the two ninjas took to the rooftops, laughing and racing ahead, far more relaxed than they had been for quite some time.

Eventually, having lost pursuit, they ended up at the top of the Hokage monument. They could see trails of destruction heading through the village as their pursuers chased clones of the fleeing couple, and they heard the "EEEHHHH!" that was obviously Naruto as the clones finally dissipated in front of him.

"Ah, that was fun." Sakura was breathless. She had a light blush from the exertion she had just undertaken and her hair was slightly mussed.

"I agree, I'm sure I haven't laughed so much in years." He thought for a moment then said, "I'm sorry. I should have stopped them before I came to meet you."

"It's OK, you know they probably wouldn't have stopped even if you asked them nicely!" She smiled as she peered out over the edge of the monument. "I wonder if they'll find us up here. I swear they are acting as if they are still twelve."

"They are just worried about you, you know." He paused, then said with amusement tinged resignation, "I don't think they trust me."

Sakura looked deeply into Kakashi's one exposed eye. "I trust you." She said simply.

"Sakura?" He wasn't quite sure what to say.

She started towards him, then stopped and dropped her gaze away. "I… I…" She couldn't seem to get the words out. Suddenly she threw herself at him with a glomp worthy of her Sasuke-chasing days. She was about to let go, when she felt two strong arms wrap around her.

"Sakura," he whispered. The strength of feeling in the air was almost palpable. Then he suddenly let go and stepped away.

Sakura was confused. "Kakashi?"

"I'm sorry Sakura."

"What for?"

"I won't take advantage of you."

"But, but…" she didn't get chance to finish. He poofed out.

Sakura stood there slack jawed for a moment wondering what had just happened, but quickly recovered.

Knowing that he would not have gone far, she tried to call him back. "Hatake Kakashi, I know you can hear me. Come back out here so I can talk to you." She waited, perhaps understanding why he had gone, but annoyed that he had not given her a chance to talk.

Kakashi stayed hidden in his tree, cursing himself for getting too close. He pulled out his latest book and decided to follow her home when she left, just to be sure she was safe.

Sakura couldn't help herself. She had tried to be strong, but everything that had been building up suddenly came crashing down on her. She sank to the ground and buried her face between her hands, trying her hardest not to cry. She stayed there alone for a while, until eventually she left and went home, her heart in tatters.

This tested Kakashi's resolve to the very limit. She was hurting now and it tore him apart to see it, but if he became a crutch for her problems with Lee then he was sure things would be worse in the long run.

Sometimes it seemed the sensible path was the hardest one to take.

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Author's Notes

So, it would seem that the bet is out of the picture, right? Hehe, you think:-P

I'll also say that from here on in the fic got a helluva lot harder to write. I rewrote chapters 2 or 3 times and I'm just hoping that it doesn't suck too badly. (My authors notes in the Prologue should have made my feelings on it clear :-P )

Thanks to -

May - I also like reading KakaIru fics - but I know what you mean about KxS seeming more realistic - after all, it's not as if Kakashi and Iruka had that much interaction in the series (and somehow I don't think those books Kakashi reads are gay porn. XD) Still fun to read though. Also I don't want to end up posting up this story too quickly, so It's going to be a new chapter every few days until it's all out, and I'll look forward to reading your Naruto fic if/when you post it.

"Me" - I haven't read the Kakashi Gaiden - I've picked up bits about it here and there, but I'm holding out for it to be animated. (probably be waiting a long time with all the filler going on...) (Does anyone else want to slap Sakura silly when she starts whining about Sasuke every few minutes?)

Freakenout - I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be writing a lemon for this. If I change my mind I'll let you know.

Also thanks to December Jewel, Ruka-Kun, Black-Aria, Zezura, FireDemonKitsune84, Awreel, White Crow and Hao'sAnjul.Without all the positive responses I would probably never have got this far with posting the fic. I never got so many reviews when I was writing a chaptered fic for Sailor Moon (which I never finished) and I had 11 chapters for that (and probably about 8 reviews) when I deleted it.

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	6. Chapter 5

Welcome back for another slice of my fic. :D

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto. This is written for fun (If you call stressing over a story fun,) and characters may be OOC.

Thanks to TDotShia for reading the original version, and giving me the encouragement to finish.

Apologies for the slight delay. Please read the authors notes regarding this chapter at the end.

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Chapter 5

Sakura had no idea how she managed to get through the next few days. It was as though all the life had been sucked out of her, and although she insisted she was fine people began to worry.

There was one person, however, notable by his absence, and that was one Hatake Kakashi. Because he knew that Lee was out of town he had taken a couple of short missions, but he had decided that once the obsessive boy came back he would go back to watching over Sakura – at a distance.

Of course, he had eventually been collared by Naruto and Sasuke. They demanded to know what he'd done to Sakura, but he'd refused to talk to them, flatly telling them that it was none of their concern. Needless to say, Team Seven did not have their meeting that week.

Eventually, Ino decided to go and find out what was happening with Sakura. Her friend had not spoken to her for almost a week now, and as far as she was concerned it was high time for some answers.

She knocked on the door, and waited for a reply. Eventually Sakura opened up.

"Oh, hi Ino. Come in." Ino was shocked. Sakura looked worse than she had expected. What on earth had happened to her normally cheerful friend?

"Sakura?" Ino radiated concern, "What on earth is the matter?"

Sakura sighed, "It's nothing." She sat down on the couch.

"It can't be nothing, not if it's affected you this badly."

"I really don't want to talk about it."

Ino sat next to Sakura. "It's ok," she soothed, "You don't have to tell me, but it might make whatever it is easier to bear if you do."

Sakura was silent for a few moments longer. Ino waited to see if she would speak. Eventually, she was rewarded.

"Ino, do you remember my reason for turning down every boy that asked me on a date?"

"Yes, you always said that you were interested in someone else…"

"Well, I really thought I had a chance with… that person, but it's over before it even started. I think he decided that I was going to use him as a crutch for my problems with Lee-san."

"So, was he interested in you too?"

"I think so," Sakura replied, "I'm not so sure anymore."

"Did you tell him that it had nothing to do with Lee?"

Sakura sniffed and stared at the floor, "I didn't even get a chance to. He just said that he would not take advantage of me and left. I haven't seen him since. He's avoiding me."

"Hmmm," Ino mused, "If he said he wouldn't take advantage then he must feel something toward you."

"You think so?" Sakura looked up.

"Sure I do." Ino Paused, "So if he came round would you still want to know?"

Sakura nodded, "I think so. I understand why he did it, but he'll never come round. He's too stubborn." She sighed, "Don't worry, I'll get over it."

"Never say never, Sakura," Ino admonished her friend. "All we've got to do is get the message that he was never a crutch across to him, and the first thing we should do is get rid of the biggest obstacle."

Sakura looked at Ino quizzically.

"Oh, come on Sakura, you aren't that dense. We need to get Lee-San out of the picture. If he's not harassing you anymore then you can't be using anyone as a crutch."

"I suppose you have a point…"

"I know I do," Ino smirked, "So, do you know when he is due back in town?"

"Lee-San? Any day now, I think. What are you going to do?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago. Make you go to the Hokage and tell her about it!"

Sakura sighed. She had known deep down that it would come to this eventually. It could no longer be avoided. Especially considering what it had cost her to delay.

"Ok, I'll go to the Hokage and tell her tomorrow."

"No, you'll go now. It's not too late in the day and I don't want you to change your mind again. Besides, you don't know exactly when that… idiot is going to be back and it would be better to tell her before he returns."

Sakura nodded and Ino dragged her out of her apartment and to the Hokage's office. She waited with Sakura until she was called.

"Good luck, Sakura," she whispered as she made to leave.

"Where are you going, Ino?" Sakura wondered. She had thought that her friend would be going in with her.

"I'm going to find a certain Shinobi and give him a piece of my mind!" Ino almost laughed at Sakura's shocked expression. "Come on now, I'm not completely blind. I know exactly who I should be looking for."

And before Sakura could even think to protest, she left to make good on her word.

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It took Ino quite a while to find the famed Copy-Ninja of Konoha, but find him she did, sat in a tree near the memorial, reading one of his favourite Hentai books.

"Ah, there you are, I've been looking for you." Ino wasn't pleased at how long it had taken her to track him down.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I'm busy," he said shortly. He didn't really feel like speaking to anyone at the moment, least of all anyone associated with Sakura.

Ino waved a hand in response, "Yeah, whatever, you sit there and read your little book and I'm going to talk."

Kakashi sat there and did not answer, so Ino continued.

"I hope you realize what you've done…" Kakashi started to tune the girl out as she carried on, but something made him tune back in rather sharply, although he didn't show it.

"… didn't you even get WHY she never went out with anyone? I've got no idea what she sees in someone like you, as far as I can see you have no redeeming features, but she's held a torch for you for YEARS. And you go and repay her like this? Well at least one good thing came out of this mess. She's finally gone to Tsunade-Sama about Lee-san and hopefully she'll sort him out and Sakura will be able to get on with her life in peace, well, as much peace as a medic-nin can expect anyway…." Ino tailed off, a bit disconcerted that Kakashi seemed to be totally ignoring her and not quite knowing what to say next.

After a moment he looked down at Ino. "Finished?" he asked.

Ino sighed. "Yep, I think that's about it."

"Don't let me keep you then." He went back to staring at his book.

Ino shrugged, "Fine, whatever. I just hope you can live with yourself." She left without a backward glance. If she had looked back, she might just have seen him leave.

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Sakura sat in her apartment staring blankly at the walls. She had just spent a good long time with Tsunade and she felt completely wrung out.

Eventually, after having questioned the young kunoichi for what had seemed like hours, Tsunade had gently chided Sakura for not coming to her sooner and said that she would start enquiries to ascertain just what was going on with the troublesome young man who was harassing her. She had also told her to take the next few days off as it really looked as though she needed some rest.

Sakura had accepted the offer of time off with obvious relief.

Idly, she wondered if Ino had found the person she had gone to look for. She sighed and kind of hoped that she hadn't found him, although she did wonder what she would have said to him if she had. Her musing was cut short when there was a knock at the door.

She cursed as she got up to answer it. Right now she just wanted to be left alone.

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Kakashi made his way across town deep in thought. If what Ino had said was true then he owed Sakura an apology at the very least. That was if she would even consent to talk to him.

Staying away had been one of the hardest things he had ever done, and he had firmly believed that if he had stayed with Sakura they would both have ended up hurt in the long run

In the end it hadn't taken much to persuade him to change his mind. It seemed quite pathetic really.

He should have known there was no way that Sakura would use anyone as a crutch. If she had felt that intimidated by the boy then he was certain that she would have dealt with it by herself eventually in one way or another. Of course, she would be upset that he hadn't trusted her and that he had arrogantly decided that he had known best. If he was totally honest with himself there had been a little fear at getting involved on his part too, which, considering his past, seemed quite understandable.

He slowed as he reached her apartment block. Would she even want to see him now? There was only one way to find out, and he wanted to try to make things right at the very least.

He reached the door, hesitated for a moment, then knocked.

It seemed an eternity until Sakura answered, and when she did he was shocked. She was pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. He could not help but stare. No wonder Sasuke and Naruto had been so mad at him.

"What do you want, Kakashi-San," she said tiredly

Kakashi sighed at the use of the honorific. "Can I come in?" he asked.

For a moment, Sakura looked as if she were amazed that he could ask such a thing, then shrugged and beckoned him inside.

Once inside, he hesitated for a moment whilst he decided how best to start. "I believe you have gone to Tsunade about Lee." She nodded and he continued, "Would you like me to go and tell her my observations?"

"Yes, thank you. That would help. He's obviously not going to get a clue so I thought I'd better get it sorted out before he ruins my life completely." She didn't mention that Ino had made her go. She knew that she would have ended up going eventually even without intervention.

Kakashi winced at that. He knew exactly what she was getting at. "I'm sorry, Sakura," he said gently, "I should have listened to what you had to say instead of leaving like that."

"Yes you should." She sounded upset, "Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure I understand why you did what you did, but it was still wrong."

Kakashi shrugged and gave a wry smile whilst rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Damn, I'm sorry. I really messed up, didn't I?"

Sakura looked at him and thought for a moment, then came to a decision. "Its ok, I forgive you," she said. There was no way she could stay mad at the infuriating man, especially as he knew that he had messed up. After all, his heart had been in the right place, and he really did look sorry, in his own unique way.

Kakashi looked at her in amazement, he had not expected that she would forgive him so easily.

"But," she continued, "if you run away from me like that again then I won't forgive you."

He stepped forward and pulled her into a rough embrace. He'd fought against it and almost lost out because he had misunderstood the situation and wasn't willing to take a chance. He wasn't going to fight anymore, but he needed to ask her…

"Are you sure about this, Sakura?"

"Never been so sure about anything." She said with conviction.

"You do realize that it's not going to be easy?" Naruto and Sasuke came to mind almost instantly. They would probably be quite upset to say the least, and he knew he was in Ino's bad books. Plus there would be the usual gossip associated with the fact that they had once been teacher and student, amongst other things.

"Yes, I do" She looked up at him, "Let's just take it one day at a time."

They stood there together, simply enjoying the closeness when suddenly Sakura let out a huge yawn. She went pink with embarrassment.

Kakashi was concerned, "Have you been sleeping properly?" he asked.

She shrugged, "Not really." Sleep had been hard to attain over the past few days.

"In that case I'll leave you to get some sleep and I'll come back to see you tomorrow."

Sakura nodded, Kakashi gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead through the mask, and left.

After that she slept better than she had in days.

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Early the next morning Maito Gai trudged along the road toward the hidden village of Konoha, unusually depressed. He was not looking forward to getting back. He had been away with Lee for a week and he had told his young clone that it was for training. In reality it had been a last gasp attempt on Gai's part to break the green clad boy of his ever growing obsession over the pink haired girl without the shame of having to take the matter further.

He was doubly glad now that he had let his Eternal Rival off the hook with regard to that bet. His curiosity over Kakashi's reactions was not worth the risk of hurting the young Medic-Nin involved, especially at such a bad time. She had got enough to deal with without the idiocy of two drunkards making it worse.

He sighed as he regarded the green-clad Chuunin who strode confidently in front of him. He didn't know what had caused the young man to flip over into this obsession, but it seemed deeply ingrained and beyond his power to break. Lee had become so delusional that he brushed aside anything that disagreed with his rosy vision of his future with Sakura, and Gai knew that he would have to report the matter to Tsunade on his return.

He really was not looking forward to that.

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Kakashi entered the Hokage's office. The woman in question was sat behind her desk, reading some papers just to keep Shizune off her back. She raised an eyebrow at the masked man.

"What can I do for you Kakashi?" she asked.

"I've come about Sakura's little problem with Lee…" Tsunade nodded him to continue and she sat in silence as he explained his observations about the Chuunin.

"Well, Gai has just been in this morning to tell me about Lee's behaviour himself," Tsunade replied. "It seems that the trip he took Lee on was a final attempt on his part to stop his charge from chasing Sakura."

"I take it that he was unsuccessful?" Kakashi knew that Lee was too far gone to listen to reason.

"From what he told me, yes. I've yet to have Lee in for an interview, but from what I've heard already it sounds as if he could be a real problem, especially as no one seems to know where he is right now." Tsunade sighed as she considered a moment. "Once I've talked to him and found out what the problem is I'll take it from there. Also I would like you to keep a watch over Sakura until we find out what is going on."

"Hmm, that sounds easy enough." He didn't add that he was going to do that anyway as it could have prompted questions that he was not quite ready to answer yet. Then he thanked whoever might be listening that Sakura had forgiven him last night. If she hadn't, things could have been unpleasant.

If Tsunade was surprised that Kakashi had agreed so easily she didn't show it. "Thank you, Kakashi. Ordinarily I'm sure that she could cope with him herself, but it sounds as though he might be well on the way to becoming unstable which will make him hard to predict. Also I've given Sakura a few days off. She's looked so tired recently that I felt it would be best for her to get some rest, and it's probably for the best that she is not around whilst we attend to this… nuisance."

Kakashi sighed. He knew that he had been at least part of the cause of Sakura's recent lack of form. "I understand. I'll make sure she is kept safe." And with that, he left.

As he went, Tsunade stared after him. He had agreed rather quickly, which was extremely unusual for the masked man. He usually gave some kind of token argument about anything she asked him to do and she had really expected some resistance over this… babysitting duty. On top of that, he had come to her without having to be asked first. For a moment she wondered if… No, that would be stupid, wouldn't it?

She shook her head and laughed at her imagination, then turned back to the piece of paper she had been looking at when Kakashi had arrived. After all, THAT would never happen, she would bet her life on it!

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Sakura was making coffee when there was a knock on the door. She answered and found Kakashi hanging from the ceiling.

"Yo!" he said

Sakura laughed. "Come down and I'll make you a coffee."

"Ah, coffee, the nectar of the Gods," he joked as he appeared before her the correct way up. He followed her into the small kitchen. It seemed a shame to break the good mood, but he needed to tell her. "I've just been to see Tsunade."

"Oh, how did it go?" Sakura turned away.

"Lee is back in town." He said as gently as he could. He saw a shudder go through her, but he carried on, knowing better than to hide anything. She needed to be prepared. "Gai has been to Tsunade to report his condition and it doesn't sound too good."

"So what is going to happen?"

"She is going to have him in for an interview and take it from there." He paused. "But based on what she's been told she thinks he might become quite dangerous. She knows that usually you could take care of yourself, but an obsessed person like Lee is not to be taken lightly, so she's assigned a Jounin to ensure that he can't get to you in the meantime."

Sakura turned to face him in shock, "She really thinks it could be that bad? So who did she assign?"

"Me." He grinned, then almost had the wind knocked out of him as Sakura grabbed him hard.

"Thank goodness," she whispered. She didn't think she could have stood it had it been someone else.

Sakura looked up at him, and the mood changed somewhat. She decided to take a chance and reached up to remove his mask, only to be thwarted by a knock at the door. She bit back a curse as she stepped away.

"I'd better get that," she said, "Can you pour the coffee?"

"Sure," he replied nonchalantly.

Sakura went to answer the door. Ino was waiting on the other side.

"Hi Sakura!" Ino was full of beans, "How did your meeting with Tsunade go?"

"It went well, but can I tell you about it later? I'm a bit busy at the moment."

"But I also need to tell you…" Ino trailed off as she spied Kakashi inside Sakura's apartment. "Ah, never mind. I'll leave you to it. Catch you later. Oh! And good luck!"

Sakura stood there puzzled for a moment as Ino hurriedly left, before shrugging her shoulders and closing the door. She returned to the lounge and sat on the sofa next to Kakashi who had set the coffee on the table.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments where neither of them seemed quite sure what to say. Eventually, Kakashi put his arm around Sakura and she leaned into him.

"That was Ino," Sakura started the conversation. "She wanted to tell me something, but she suddenly said it could wait until later and left."

"Strange," Kakashi was pretty sure he knew what it was that Ino had wanted to say, "Hardly worth coming here for."

After a few moments, Sakura sat up and took a drink of coffee to settle herself. She turned towards Kakashi and stopped in shock. He had removed his mask. Damn, but he was gorgeous. No wonder he kept his face covered up. Had he gone around with his face exposed he would have hordes of women constantly chasing him, and probably a few men too. This brought a brief flare of jealousy, which she squashed almost immediately. After all, he was with her.

He gave her an amused look as he caught her staring. "What? How else am I supposed to drink this?" he asked brandishing his coffee.

"You know, I never thought that far ahead." She smiled as she replied, knowing that if he had wanted to, he could have drunk that coffee without showing his face. It felt nice to be trusted like that.

She decided to change the subject, "How about we get out for a while? I need to do some grocery shopping." As much as she would like to have stared at him all day, her cupboards were bare and even ninjas couldn't live on fresh air.

Kakashi considered for a moment as he replaced his mask and adjusted his forehead protector. "That should be ok. I doubt that Lee is so delusional that he would try to do anything whilst I am with you." 'Yet,' he added to himself.

He hoped that Lee had been found. The sooner Tsunade could deal with him, the better.

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Authors Notes.

Originally this was chapters 5 and 6, but there were several parts in both chapters that I felt did not work or really fit at all. I removed and edited so much extraneous crap that I felt it was better to combine the parts into a larger chapter rather than have 2 much smaller ones. I think it improves the story over all and I know that I'm certainly a lot happier with it now. I realise there are a couple of places it might fall a little... flat, but compared to how it was before... I had serious misgivings over going ahead as it stood. I'd been worrying about this part ever since I started posting the story on here. (sweatdrop)

I've got the rest of the fic fixed up now and I've uploaded it all so it's ready to publish on here, so hopefully no more delays :P

Thanks to:

"Me" - Sasuke and Naruto have been mentioned a couple of times in past chapters. I suppose it wasn't much, but they weren't really important to that part of the story. Well, I never claimed my story would be perfect. :-P

Catc10 – Thank you. :-D I'm glad you like it. I haven't even seen the whole series. I watched something like 1-38 then 77-90 (starting with the "Live-eviL Parody Sub" from April 1 2004) then 102-present and then 101 when TDotShia told me to a few weeks ago (funny funny) I've also seen the movie and the 2 jump festa specials. So as you can tell, there are some gaps in my knowledge of the series anyway. I am intending to put that right with a few sessions of watching from the beginning at 2x ('Power Anime Watching' as it's called by someone on a forum I'm a member of) – although I just had to stop after ep 21 as I almost got mental trauma from watching Gai and Lee at double speed LOL.

Freakenout – I'm glad you think it's cute. I tried to make this fic a little different and even though there is the opportunity for a lemon or two in a couple of chapter's time, I don't think I want to write them XD.

Also thanks to December Jewel, Senx2, Black-Aria, Ruka-Kun, Majin Leviathan, Wendytigges, Allyluv, Hao'sAnjul, Neko Celes and ArishaGinkaze. Every positive review makes it worthwhile.

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	7. Chapter 6

Welcome back for another slice of my fic

In this chapter we find out why Lee is being such an ass. I just hope my reason doesn't suck too badly :P

Disclaimer. I don't own Naruto. I wrote this for fun. Characters may be OOC.

Thanks once again to TDotShia for giving me the encouragement to finish!

Once again, the editor has been taking spaces out. I've checked through but apologies if I missed any!

On with the show. :-)

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Chapter 6

A certain green clad Chuunin was heading towards the entrance of Sakura's apartment, intending to see his one true love, having come as soon as he was able to after returning from his training trip with Gai. Of course, just by being there he had made himself fairly easy to find, and he jumped despite himself when a couple of ANBU suddenly appeared next to him.

The first ANBU, who had a cat mask on, spoke, "Rock Lee, Tsunade-Sama wishes to see you in her office."

"Can't it wait?" he asked, "I am doing something of the greatest importance." He REALLY wanted to see Sakura, and if he went to Tsunade now he might miss her.

"The matter won't wait, Tsunade-Sama was quite insistent." The second, bird masked ANBU said. Lee hesitated a moment longer. He knew that if he didn't agree to go, then they would force him.

He sighed and turned to go reluctantly. As they started towards the Hokage's office, Lee looked back one last time and he saw something that made him stop. Out of the apartment block came Sakura, but with her, was the masked ninja, Hatake Kakashi.

He felt in the pit of his stomach that this was not good, but he had no choice but to go with the ANBU for the moment, as they were prodding him on. But he would be back to investigate further later.

He would make sure of it.

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Kakashi and Sakura walked down the road, not long having left Sakura's apartment. She was surprised when he put his arm around her. She looked up at him, wondering why he would do such a thing as she thought that he would not show any kind of attachment in public, especially with Lee still being on the loose.

"Ah, it's OK," He picked up on her concerns, "I just saw Lee being escorted away by a couple of ANBU so he won't be any trouble for a while."

"Oh, that's good then." Sakura relaxed.

Suddenly there was a shout of, "Oi! Ero-Sensei," from behind them. Sakura stiffened. Kakashi removed his arm from her shoulders and turned around.

"Naruto, Sasuke, what can I do for you." The masked man asked coolly.

"We just want to make sure that you aren't doing anything perverted to Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke just stood there silently, eyes flashing in annoyance. It wasn't clear whether he was annoyed with Naruto or Kakashi, but knowing Sasuke it was probably both.

Naruto was oblivious as Sakura calmly walked up to him and walloped him on the head. "Baka! Couldn't you have said it any louder? I'm sure that they didn't quite hear you on the other side of the village!"

"But, Sakura-Chan…" She eyed him dangerously and amazingly he got a clue and shut up. He was suddenly sure that there was no way she would defend Kakashi if he had done anything remotely perverted.

Kakashi stood to one side amused. Sakura did have a knack for dealing with the hyperactive young man.

"So, just what is going on here?" Sasuke asked in a more reasonable tone. "Why did you have your arm around Sakura like that?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Kakashi asked. He moved over to Sakura and put his arm around her again, Sakura accepting the embrace. The couple looked on with amusement as they could almost see things falling into place in the minds of the other half of Team Seven.

Naruto, looking like a fish out of water, stammered out, "You… Him… What? Eww, Sakura, but he's OLD"

Cue Sakura stepping forward and giving Naruto another whap on the head. "Kakashi is NOT old!"

"Naruto does have a point though," Sasuke interjected, "You are 19 and he is… what? 33? That's a 14 year gap. It could never work out."

Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other and he shrugged. "You can't be sure of that," Was the reply from the masked man.

Sakura continued, "I know you are only concerned about me, but it's not really any of your business who I decide to see. Or is this just about bruised pride because I turned both of you down?"

The two young men were silent at that. She probably had a point.

"Well, we can't stand around here all day, got things to do you know." Sakura waved her hand dismissively as she turned away.

"Hey, Sakura?" Naruto called her back.

"Yes?"

Naruto whispered into her ear. Sakura went red, then stuck her tongue out. "That would be telling!" she said, laughing.

"Ja ne," Kakashi said in amusement as he put his arm around her once again and they left.

"So what did you ask her, moron?" Sasuke was feeling a bit put out.

"Only what he looked like under the mask. I should have known she wouldn't tell. And don't call me a moron, asshole!"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. That was typical Naruto.

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At the Hokage's office, Tsunade was waiting with Gai for the arrival of Lee. Gai was pacing worriedly, much to Tsunade's annoyance.

"Gai, sit down before you wear a hole in the floor!"

"Yes, Tsunade-Sama," but he didn't get a chance. The door opened and Lee entered, flanked by the two ANBU who had found him.

"Thank you," Tsunade said. The ANBU bowed and left the room.

Lee wondered what Gai-Sensei was doing here. "You wanted to see me Tsunade-Sama?" he asked.

"Yes Lee-San." She steepled her fingers, "It has come to my attention that you are giving one of my students a little… trouble." She looked at him. There was something stranger than usual about him, but she could not put her finger on it.

"Err, I have, Tsunade-Sama?" He seemed to have no idea what she was on about.

"Yes," She decided to get to the point, "I have had several reports that you have been harassing one Haruno Sakura. Now Lee, I don't know what you think you are hoping to achieve, but this has to stop. As from now I'm putting a restraining order on you, and you are not to go anywhere near Sakura or her apartment."

"Gai-Sensei?" Lee looked toward his mentor, hoping for some support.

Gai looked apologetically at Lee, "I'm sorry Lee, but you just can't seem to see that she does not like you in that way. It's the only way…"

Lee burst out in indignant anger, "You betrayed me Gai-Sensei!"

"Lee, I…"

"No, you betrayed me and now she is off with Kakashi-Sensei somewhere and who knows what he might do to her…" With that the obsessed young man jumped out of the window and took off across the town.

Gai raced to the window, "LEE!" he shouted after the boy.

Tsunade sat in her chair, completely shocked. She had known that Lee might be a problem, but placing the restraining order was only intended to help her gauge the level of his obsession and there was always the chance that it may have cleared things up without the need for further intervention. She had not expected him to snap so easily despite what she had said to Kakashi earlier that day.

Having totally underestimated the situation, things had turned out spectacularly badly, and now she needed to get ahold of him to discover what the real problem was.

"Gai!" she said urgently, standing up. "We need to stop him or there could be trouble!"

Gai nodded and jumped out of the window, followed closely by Tsunade. They needed to find the boy now, before things got any worse.

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Lee raced across town, looking for Sakura. He knew that she was with Kakashi, and he needed to rescue her from his clutches. He paused as he saw Naruto and Sasuke.

"Naruto-san, Sasuke-san," he called to them trying to present a calm exterior, "Have you seen Sakura-san? I need to find her."

The two young men looked at each other, then Naruto shrugged and pointed behind him. "She went that way with Kakashi-Sensei a few minutes ago…"

"Thank you Naruto-San." And with that he was gone,

The boys looked at each other once again. That was strange. However, it was about to get even stranger as the two young men almost jumped a mile when Gai landed in front of them.

"Geez, Gai-Sensei, way to give a guy a heart attack!" Naruto shouted.

"No time for that, Naruto-Kun," Gai said as Tsunade landed beside him, making them jump again, "Have you seen Lee? It is extremely urgent that we find him."

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other once again. What was going on here?

This time Sasuke spoke, "He's just gone that way looking for Sakura. She's with Kakashi-Sensei…"

"No time to lose!" Gai exclaimed and took off.

"How was Lee when you saw him?" Tsunade asked.

"Ehh?" Naruto spoke, "Well, he seemed to be calm, but there was something off about him …"

"In what way?"

"It seemed as if he was really upset about something and he was trying to hide it," Sasuke interjected.

"Thank you Naruto, Sasuke," Tsunade said as she took off after Gai.

Once again, the two young men looked at each other and this time they seemed to come to some sort of consensus. They took off in pursuit of Tsunade. There was something weird going on that possibly involved Sakura and they wanted to know what it was.

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Sakura and Kakashi walked along the street, Kakashi carrying a large bag of groceries. They were still amused by the antics of their team-mates, and talking about it as they went.

Suddenly, almost too late, Kakashi caught the murderous intent falling upon him. Hardly having time to react, he pushed Sakura out of the way and took the blow. He moved himself to lessen the impact, but he had noticed too late and, after pushing Sakura out of the way, could not completely avoid it.

The bag of groceries split and scattered across the ground.

There was silence for a moment as the dust settled. Sakura sat up, confused as to what had just happened. She saw Kakashi getting up a few yards away from her, and Lee coming in, screaming obscenities, obviously intending to give the killer blow.

Suddenly Sakura was mad. This thing, (she refused to call Lee a person at this point in time,) had been harassing her for ages, he was out to ruin her life and he was trying to kill Kakashi.

Momentarily forgetting that the Jounin would be able to look after himself, she got up, and launched herself in front of Kakashi, intent on stopping Lee.

The masked man moved in alarm, "Sakura, NO!" he shouted.

Through his delusion, Lee heard that cry and noticed Sakura was in front of him instead of his intended target, but he had already thrown his punch. Desperately he tried to pull it, but it was not enough. He hit Sakura in the stomach. She crashed into a nearby wall and slumped to the floor.

That was when Gai and Tsunade arrived on the scene, closely followed by Sasuke and Naruto.

"Holy crap! What did that bastard just do?" Naruto exclaimed. He made to launch himself at Lee, but he was held back by Sasuke as Tsunade went to see to Sakura.

"I think we'd better stay out of this," Sasuke said. "Kakashi can handle it."

"Fine, but if Lee tries to go anywhere near Sakura again…" Naruto tailed off.

Kakashi and Lee had stood silent for a moment, totally stunned by what had just happened. Lee took a step toward Sakura and Kakashi moved to stop him. There was no way he was going to let the obsessed young man anywhere near her.

Suddenly Kakashi sprang forward and knocked Lee out. He had taken advantage of Lee's distraction over Sakura and the young man had not put up any resistance. Seeing that the boy was no longer a threat, he moved his attention to Sakura who was now being seen to by Tsunade. He hurried over to check on her condition.

"How is she?" he said as Tsunade finished checking her over.

"She's lucky. From what I saw, Lee pulled most of that last blow. There's nothing broken, but I want her up at the hospital for observation, at the very least until she wakes up."

"Shit, I should have been more careful." Kakashi was disgusted with himself.

"Don't blame yourself, I think we all underestimated the problem." Tsunade said, "At least he won't be any more trouble now, but I'll have to take a close look into what the problem is once I get him to the hospital."

Kakashi nodded and picked Sakura up. "I'll take her," he said. Tsunade watched him go as she moved over toward Lee and Gai, wondering if there wasn't something going on there despite what she had told herself earlier.

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It was not too much later that Kakashi found himself standing in the corridor of the hospital. Upon arriving with Sakura and telling Shizune what had happened, he had been shooed out of the room he had placed Sakura in so that Shizune could examine Sakura's injuries in private.

He was leaning on the wall and reading one of his books to try and distract himself. He couldn't help but feel that he had almost lost Sakura today only just after they had found each other, and that scared him. If it hadn't been for her words about running away the previous night he might have closed himself off again, but he knew that he would not get another chance if he left her now, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her any more. He stiffened and closed the book as he noticed Gai approaching him.

"Kakashi," Gai greeted his rival.

"Gai," Kakashi replied coolly as he put the book away.

"How is she?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I do know that her injuries aren't life threatening."

"Shit, I'm sorry. I never thought things could get this bad," Gai was so upset that he had forgone the flowery mode of speech that he usually favoured.

"I think we all underestimated the problem, Gai," Tsunade said as she approached the two men. "I've got Lee sedated for now. It's probably going to take a while to make him stable, but I'll make sure that he won't be obsessing over Sakura anymore."

"That's good," Kakashi said, then before he could say anything else, Shizune appeared out of Sakura's room.

"She's awake now. Although she was knocked out she doesn't appear to have a concussion. She's still a bit tender and a little shaken up. She's got a few scrapes and she'll also have quite a bruise, but other than that she's fine" Shizune smiled, "you can go in now."

"Thank you, Shizune," Tsunade said as she led the two men into the room. Shizune bowed and left to do some other work.

"Kakashi?" Sakura said as he entered the room. He was over by her side in a moment.

"Sakura, How do you feel?"

"As if I've been run over by Chouji's Meat Tank no Jutsu." She winced.

"You really had me worried back there you know. I never expected you to jump in front of him like that."

"I'm sorry, I just got so mad at him all of a sudden…"

"It's Ok," he said as she leaned into him. "You weren't badly hurt and that's all that matters."

Tsunade and Gai looked at each other. When had those two become an item? They had both seen the signs, but they were still surprised to see it happen. They were brought back by Sakura's next question.

"So what happened after that?"

"I took advantage of Lee's distraction and knocked him out, then brought you to the hospital. I don't know what his problem is yet though."

That was Tsunade's cue to speak, "It would seem that Lee is suffering the after effects of some kind of Jutsu, and his mental rhythms are way out of whack," she said, "I couldn't find anything about what might have caused it in either Gai's or Lee's recent mission reports, or it would probably have been picked up on before now."

Tsunade looked pointedly at Gai, who stood deep in thought, "The only thing I can think of was a few months ago. We were on a mission out of the country and a young woman took quite a shine to Lee. He turned her down saying that he was interested in someone else and she took it quite badly. I suppose that she might have seduced him using some kind of Jutsu, or done something else to him as he did seem a little strange when we left, but as he seemed to recover after a day or so I never thought any more of it."

Tsunade sighed, "I'll have to try and get what happened out of Lee later, when he's a little more stable," she said. "I want Sakura to stay here for a little while longer, but as long as everything's OK she'll be able to go home soon."

Tsunade looked pointedly at Kakashi, who nodded to her. He would make sure that she was alright.

"Right then Gai, time for us to go and check on Lee, then we can talk more about what caused this mess." Tsunade grabbed the Green clad man and dragged him from the room, intending to give him a dressing down about not including his observations in his mission report. She was also sure that Gai would have stopped in Sakura's room all day if she hadn't dragged him off, and she got a feeling that it would be best to leave Kakashi and Sakura alone for a while.

Still, who would ever have expected that those two would get together. Sometimes the world worked in mysterious ways.

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This was the last of the really difficult chapters to (re)write. I'm glad it's out of the way :-P And if you think that Lee's problem is a bit of a cop out then you should see the way I originally wrote it. XD At least this way I think there is something at least a little believable about it. (plus it gives him the chance for a happy ending in the future - I don't hate him that much!)

And It could end there right? Well, I suppose it could but the bet has still got to come back to bite Kakashi in the ass. (At least a little bit.) So where did he "put it for safekeeping," and how is Sakura going to find it? Well, that would be telling You'll have to read and find out :-P

Thanks to -

Ruka-Kun - I also like long chapters. It's rare that i'll read any fic that has less than 1000 words, or has really short chapters. I like something I can get my teeth into. I've been (very) vaguely setting a target of about 2500 words a chapter for this fic, and it's worked for me, even though most of the chapters have been longer than that! XD

Zezura - I'm not deleting your reviews (I know it was a joke :P) Must be FF Net being screwy. Actually, I havent had cause to delete any reviews, which has surprised me somewhat. One of my biggest fears about posting this story was the fact that it was for the Naruto fandom, which even though Naruto hasn't reached American shores yet is a HUGE fandom already, but it's been OK so far. :-D

Also thanks to - Aredhl, LovelyCloud, Neko Celes, Freakenout, Yohko, DecemberJewel, Senx2. Every positive review makes it worthwhile.

Side note - I know I said it was ep 21 I watched to last time, but in reality it was ep 22 - See - I was so traumatised by Lee blowing hearts at Sakura that I couldn't even remember the correct ep number XD - then I watched ep 23 and laughed myself silly cos a lot of the scenes reminded me of some Flash Videos that had been doing the rounds a while back- the "Naruto Dreams" and "True Naruto Style" ones XD. I had to stop again after that - I'm not going to get very far at this rate.

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	8. Chapter 7

Hello, and welcome back to those of you that are still reading. :-)

disclaimer - I do not own Naruto. I am doing this for "fun", characters may be OOC.

Thanks to TDotShia for the encouragement to finish the story!

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Chapter 7

Alone at last, Kakashi turned back to the young woman sitting on the bed. Words were not needed as he pulled the mask down, took her in his arms and kissed her soundly.

Sakura lost herself in the moment. Damn, but he was a good kisser. Ok, it wasn't exactly the scenario she'd had in mind for their first kiss, but given the circumstances she didn't really care.

They carried on in the same vein for a few moments until they heard the door open. They broke apart slightly, Sakura pulled Kakashi's mask back up and they looked around to see Naruto and Sasuke stood in the doorway.

"EHH! Sasuke, look! He's doing perverted things to her!" Naruto shouted.

"Moron," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi adjusted his mask and decided to ask Naruto a question, "Naruto, why do you say this is perverted? I thought you were married. Don't tell me that you've never even kissed Hinata?" He was obviously extremely amused at the thought. It seemed hard to fathom that the young man could even be in a serious relationship, never mind married, but Hinata was good for him and he had calmed down a lot after they had got together. He still had his moments though, and this was one of them.

Naruto went red for a moment, knowing that he'd done a lot more than kissing. "But that's different," he said

"How?"

"Well, we are married..."

"I don't think that has much bearing between two consenting adults," the masked man said.

"But you are OLD…"

Sakura sighed, "Naruto…" He looked at her exasperated expression and shut up.

Because Naruto was silent for a few moments, having seemingly run out of arguments, Sasuke decided to speak. "I think he's being like that because Sakura is the nearest thing to a sister that we've got and we don't want to see her hurt," he gestured toward Naruto, "and he's just an idiot."

Naruto sent Sasuke a filthy look. "Don't call me an idiot, asshole!" Sometimes it was hard to see how the two young men were such good friends.

"Naruto, Sasuke, that's really sweet of you, but I think I can look after myself," Sakura smiled at them.

Sasuke decided not to press the point any further and changed the subject, "Gai-Sensei told us what's been going on." He crossed his arms, "You should have said that Lee was being a problem." He was nothing if not to the point.

"Well, things only came to a head over the last few weeks," Sakura explained. "Besides, I didn't want you two going and doing some number on him and getting yourselves into trouble."

"I do hope that you two aren't planning anything." Kakashi interjected, "It's all over now and if Gai has spoken to you then you know it wasn't Lee's fault. I'm not saying that I'm happy about it, but…" He shrugged.

The two boys had the grace to look a little sheepish. Kakashi had certainly got their number. Shizune appeared at the door.

"How are you feeling now Sakura?" She asked.

"I don't have a headache, I'm just a little sore."

"Ok, then. I'll let you go home now, as long as someone responsible is going to be with you for a while." Shizune eyed Naruto warily.

"I'll be going with her," Kakashi spoke up.

Naruto looked as if he was going to say something to that, so Sasuke bopped him on the head to shut him up.

"Well, I'll be glad to get out of here anyway," Sakura said, "The food here sucks…" she tailed off, then looked up in alarm. "I completely forgot. The groceries got ruined!"

"That's no problem," Shizune said, "Tsunade-Sama had Naruto and Sasuke here collect them up and she replaced what was beyond saving. The bag is waiting in reception for when you leave." She had given the boys that task to keep them from being underfoot whilst things were being sorted out.

"We'll carry it home for you Sakura-Chan!" Naruto enthused.

"Thank you Naruto, Sasuke," Sakura said,"Let's go then. Thank you Shizune, and please thank Tsunade-Sama for me,"

Then, assisted by Kakashi, she got up and Team Seven left the building.

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Back at Sakura's apartment, Naruto and Sasuke were in the kitchen putting the groceries away. Sakura and Kakashi were sat on the couch, Sakura wincing at every crash or bang. After Sasuke had called Naruto a moron for about the 20th time amidst the crashes, she tried to get up, only to be stopped by the masked man.

"Come on, Kakashi," she groaned, "let me go and see what they are up to. They are probably putting everything in the wrong places and wrecking things."

He sighed, "No, you stay here. I'll go and see what they are doing." With that he got up and left Sakura on the couch alone.

As she was left there she pondered the events of the last 24 hours. Things had certainly been hectic. It felt like more like a week had passed than just one day, but finally it felt as though things could be going right for her. Lee was going to get the help he needed and was no longer going to harass her and she had finally got together with Kakashi, which was something she had never thought would happen.

She did feel a bit guilty about Lee. If she had gone to Tsunade sooner then perhaps things would not have got so bad. But then, if things hadn't got so bad then maybe she wouldn't have got together with Kakashi. She sighed. Sometimes life was complicated, but at least now it seemed to be working out ok.

She came out of her contemplation as the three returned from the kitchen.

"Is everything alright?" She asked, "they haven't wrecked anything have they?"

"No no," Kakashi said, "Everything is alright. They were about to leave so you can get some rest."

"We were?" this was of course from Naruto, which was rewarded by a "Dobe" from Sasuke.

"But, but…" Everyone seemed to know what Naruto was trying to say.

Sakura beckoned Naruto over and spoke quietly to him, "How about this? I promise that I won't let him do anything that I don't want him to? Will that do?"

"Ah, Ok Sakura-Chan," Naruto said just as quietly, "But if he does then you come and tell me. Promise?"

"I promise." Sakura smiled at Naruto's natural over-protectiveness, hoping that he'd just get the point and go.

"Ok, Sasuke, our work here is done! Bye Sakura-Chan!" Naruto exclaimed in his usual exuberant way as he left. Sasuke didn't say anything, but waved to Sakura as he followed.

After he'd seen them out, Kakashi sat back next to Sakura. "I thought they were never going to leave," he said.

"Yeah, no kidding. Hinata must have the patience of a saint. What were they doing in there anyway?"

"They were arguing about what went where and the usual stuff for those two, and Sasuke was telling Naruto that they should leave." Kakashi was curious, "Just what did you say to Naruto to convince him to go?"

"I promised him that I'd tell him if you did anything I didn't want you to."

"So what do you want me to do?" He leaned toward her,

Sakura didn't answer. She just pulled the mask down and brought him in for a kiss.

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Much later on, Sakura was lying in bed regarding the shock of silver hair on the pillow next to her, thinking about what had happened since that kiss.

Obviously, neither of them had intended to go this far so soon, but the events of the afternoon had changed things between them considerably. Initially Kakashi had been doing his best to resist, not wanting to rush her into anything andbecause he was worriedabout hurting her because of her injuries. Sakura had made it clear that she wsa more than willing, and once she'd reassured him that she wouldn't break and everything would be alright, he'd hesitated for a few more moments then helped her up and let her lead him into the bedroom.

In the end he was even more gentle with her than he had needed to be. She flushed as she remembered how he had traced butterfly kisses over every single scrape she had picked up, and all around the large bruise she sported thanks to her encounter with Lee, then how, a little later, they had ridden the waves of passion together, then collapsed sated and content in the soft sheets of her bed.

She looked across at him again, this time finding mismatched eyes staring back at her. She took in the sight of his face, knowing that she could never get enough of it.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine. You didn't hurt me."

"That's good." He drew her into an embrace.

Sakura settled herself into his arms. She could get used to this.

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Over the next couple of weeks, things slowly got back to normal. After a few days rest, Sakura returned to working at the medical centre and Kakashi took a few short missions.

During this time, the truth of Lee's problem came out. As far as Tsunade could make out, the woman that he had attracted the attention of had used a specialised mind-jutsu on him, causing him to see the person he most desired, and making him bold enough to act on it. Lee had reacted particularly badly afterwards, causing the obsession that had been so much trouble for the pink haired girl. Tsunade was confident that he would recover from it over time,and she was still annoyed at Gai for not including the pertinent facts in his mission report.

Sakura was relieved. She couldn't hate Lee for what had happened, but she knew that she wouldn't want to see him any time soon.

Of course, Kakashi and Sakura were the subject of quite a bit of gossip. Most people who heard about the relationship between the pink haired woman and the masked man were actually quite supportive. Even Naruto had come around, which was important to Sakura. However, there had been a few malicious whispers along the lines of it being wrong for a relationship to have such a large age gap, wondering whether they had been at it back when she was still his student, and other equally distasteful things.

When Kakashi expressed concern to Sakura, worried that she might be upset about it, she brushed the concerns aside.

"Look, we are just this week's news," she said, "Before longsomething else will happen and the gossips will move on."

Kakashi nodded, accepting this to be true, and let the matter drop.

They spent whatever time they could together, each night ending up at either Sakura's apartment or his own. One morning he'd woken up surprised to see Sakura reading one of his books. She'd looked at him and asked if what they were doing in the book was actually possible, and now that she was fully healed, he'd taken great pleasure in showing her that it was.

Early one morning, a couple of days after that, Kakashi had been called away by a knock at the door.

"Tsunade wants me for something," he said as he returned, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Are you going now?" she asked.

"Of course not, she will expect me to be late. I can't disappoint now can I?"

Sakura smirked. That was so typical of the masked man.

After he left her there a little while later, she decided to amuse herself before she had to go to the medical centre by taking another look at one of his books. Actually, she wasn't sure that she wanted to go in today. She was feeling a little sick and out of sorts. She shrugged to herself as she decided which book to take. It was probably just worry over what Tsunade wanted Kakashi for.

Eventually she chose a book, and as she opened it a piece of paper fell to the floor. Curious, she picked it up and smoothed it out. She read the contents several times, unable to believe what she was reading, her face ashen.

It was the bet.

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Kakashi sighed as he walked along the road back to his apartment. Tsunade had asked him to go on a mission that would take at least a month. He only had time to tell Sakura before he left, and he hoped that she would take it well.

Well, she had known what she was getting into when they started seeing each other. She should be ok with it.

He opened his apartment door. "Sakura?" he called. He could not sense her anywhere in the apartment. He knew it was not quite time for her to go yet, so he was surprised.

He wandered into the bedroom and stopped dead.

On the bed, next to the book he had put it in for 'safekeeping' and the key he had convinced Sakura to keep way back when all this had started, was the bet.

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Sakura ran back to her apartment, shame filling her.

She had been the subject of a sickening bet, and she had fallen for it hook, line and sinker!

She slammed the door behind her, and threw herself onto her bed, tears running down her cheeks despite her best effort to stop them.

She had trusted him. How could he do this to her? She felt sicker than ever at what she had just discovered. There was no way she would be undertaking her work and studies today.

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After gathering the last of the things he would need for his mission, Kakashi headed over to Sakura's apartment. He cursed himself for not throwing that thing away after Gai had finally let him out of it, but he had forgotten that he had put it there.

He knew that hehad really messed up. If it had just been the book and the bet that were left like that he wouldn't have been feeling anywhere near as bad, but she had left the key too, and the significance of that had caused an ache in his chest like he'd never felt before.

He hesitated as he reached her door. He had to try to explain before he had to leave, but he was sure she was upset and wouldn't listen. If he'd had more time he would probably have left her to calm down for a while, but time was a luxury he didn't have. He knocked loudly.

After waiting a minute or so, he knocked again. There was a faint "Who is it?" from the other side of the door. Damn, but she sounded upset. "Sakura?" he asked.

"Go away!" she shouted.

"But Sakura…"

"I said go away! How could you do that to me, I don't want to see you!"

He sighed, "It's not like that..."

"Go away, Kakashi-San."

He stared at the door and sighed again. He knew he had no choice but to go now or he would miss the window of opportunity for his mission. He just hoped that she would be more willing to talk to him after his mission was over, and he steeled himself to put his emotions aside for the duration.

It was just such bad timing.

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A while after Kakashi had left, and once she was in a more rational state of mind, Sakura got to thinking about what she had read.

As she remembered it, the paper only said that he had to get her to be his girlfriend within a month. If, as she suspected, the bet had been made on the day that Kakashi and Gai had got drunk then that month was long over. She did vaguely remember trying to pull a piece of paper out of Kakashi's hand on the night she had taken him home, and she knew that it had probably been the bet.

On top of that, it didn't say that he had to sleep with her. She was sure that he would never have done such a thing if he weren't serious and the sick feeling returned tenfold as she realized that she should have waited to talk to him instead of running away.

Knowing that she needed to find and talk to the masked man, she headed for the medicine cabinet to find something to help settle her stomach. She needed to be calm for this and an upset stomach would not help matters.

As she opened the cabinet and searched for what she wanted, she noted a set of bottles to one side. She stopped as she realized that she was due to take the contents of one of them, and something didn't look quite right. She counted them with a feeling of dread…It didn't take long and, as she suspected, there was one too many. She had been certain that she had taken it but she had obviously forgotten…

…to take her contraceptive last month.

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Authors Note.

I'm sorry, but as I explained to Freakenout in a previous chapter, I'm not writing any lemons. Actually I did try to write one, but I found that I couldn't do it. (blush). I think what I did write was probably as far as I could go and still keep it "PG-13" - if anyone thinks it's rated too low after that, then let me know and I'll up the rating.

I have no clue what they use for contraception in the Narutoverse, so I made something up. I think it sort of fits in with the kind of thing they would do, but you'll have to give me poetic license on it XD

Also, I know I've been a bit vague on time elapsed in places, but it has been longer than a month since the beginning of the story. I did a check to make sure.

Thanks to -

Freakenout - I suppose it is a bit weird, but then, it isn't over yet! When I started writing this story Lee was not supposed to be such a huge part of it, it just seemed to end up that way. I wanted to resolve his storyline, so that is what I came up with. It might not be all that good, but it's still nowhere near as bad as the first time I wrote it!

Firefox - I'm glad you enjoyed it so far. I know that some people love him, but I find Lee strange to say the least. He looks like a Beatles reject. (oh man - what if they give him a Liverpudlian accent in the dub... ((Shudder)) that would be too freaky!) and all that burning youth stuff freaks me out. I'm hoping that this chapter and the next one don't come off as too lame XD, although I must say that they were probably the easiest chapters of the whole fic (barring the prologue) to write! And yup, there wouldn't have been any point to having a bet in the first place if it didn't come back to bite him in the ass at least a little bit. :-)

Also thanks to Senx2, December Jewel, Rinna (scary :-P) and Hao'sAnjul. Every positive review makes it worthwhile.

I also notice that I've been added to a few more favorites lists, so thank you for that. :-)

Just one more chapter plus epilogue to go.

Atom XX


	9. Chapter 8

Welcome back, once again, to the next chapter of my story.

Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto. Characters may be OOC. This is written for 'Fun' - made even more fun because of all the nice reviews I'm getting. :-)

Thanks again to TDotShia who gave me the encouragement to finish. I do hope you are going to read this chapter, as the ending part is completely different (and IMHO much better) than the version you got to see!

Chapter 8

Sakura sank to the floor in shock. There was one bottle too many. She had counted them several times over, hoping against hope that she had just miscounted, but the fact remained, she had not taken her contraceptive for the last month.

Being a practical type of girl she had been taking them 'just in case,' and she cursed at the fact that she had forgotten just when it had really mattered. She knew that she had intended to take it, but something must have distracted her at a crucial time and the fact that she hadn't taken it had completely escaped her notice.

She knew she would have to have it confirmed, but she was pretty sure now why she was feeling sick and out of sorts. She still hoped that she was wrong...

Pulling herself together, she set out to the medical center. She needed to find out for sure and then she needed to find and talk to Kakashi.

She wondered how he would take it.

Tsunade met Sakura in the medical center. "What's the matter, Sakura-chan?" she asked. She could see that something was troubling the young woman.

"Ah, it's a bit embarrassing actually," she started, "I need a pregnancy test."

"A pregnancy test?" Tsunade was shocked, "I thought you were using contraception."

Sakura pulled a face, "I just realized this morning that I had forgotten to take last month's dose and I thought I'd better get checked out."

Tsunade got up and rummaged around in a cupboard and handed Sakura a small box. "You can take it in there," she said, gesturing towards a side room." Sakura took the box, headed in and shut the door.

Tsunade sighed as she paced and waited for Sakura to finish. After a few minutes, Sakura returned, looking pale.

"Sakura?" Tsunade was concerned. She escorted the young woman to a chair and sat her down, then handed her a drink of water.

"Shit," Sakura muttered after a moment.

"Do I take it the result was positive?" Tsunade enquired. Sakura nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"Does Kakashi know anything about this?"

"No," Sakura almost whispered, "We… ahh… fell out this morning."

"Was it because of the mission?"

Sakura looked up. "I didn't know he had a mission."

"Oh dear," Tsunade cursed to herself, it really was bad timing, but at least he would not be distracted by this knowledge although the fact that they had fallen out was bad enough. Still, he was enough of a professional not to let things affect him and get the job done.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, but he's gone on an infiltration mission for at least a month, although it could be a lot longer depending on how things go. I can't tell you any more than that."

Sakura nodded knowing that Tsunade couldn't tell, then burst into tears.

Tsunade comforted the distraught young woman as best she could. Damn, she wished there was something she could do, but there was nothing to be done but to wait for the masked man's return.

Later that day found a now much calmer Sakura in search of Maito Gai. She needed to get to the truth about that bet and with Kakashi gone the only other person that knew anything about it was the so-called Green Beast of Konoha.

After making a few enquiries, she managed to find him at the training ground with Lee. She shuddered involuntarily when she saw the younger man, but she needed to speak with Gai-sensei, so she gritted her teeth and walked towards them.

"Ah, Sakura-san!" Gai enthused when he saw her, "You grace us with your presence on this fine day."

"Gai-Sensei, Lee-San," she politely greeted the two shinobi. "Gai-Sensei, can I speak to you for a moment please?"

"Sakura-San," she was surprised when she found Lee kneeling on the ground before her, "I am truly sorry for what I did to you."

"That's ok, Lee-San." Sakura said uncomfortably, "I know it wasn't your fault but I really need to talk to Gai-Sensei."

Gai, noticing Sakura's discomfort, decided to intervene. "Lee, why don't you go and get something to eat whilst I see what Sakura-San wants?"

"Hai, Gai-Sensei. Bye Sakura-San." Lee left them alone, and Sakura visibly relaxed.

"What can I do for you Sakura?" Gai asked pleasantly.

"I need to ask you about a bet you made with Kakashi." She said, getting straight to the point.

Gai was shocked. She had found out about that? His rival must have been getting careless. "Ah, Sakura-San, That bet was an ill-conceived matter between two drunkards. We cancelled it by mutual agreement when it was clear that the circumstances were not favorable, although I must admit that I held him to it for slightly longer than I should have done."

Sakura slumped, so he really didn't do it just for a bet. "Thank you Gai-Sensei. You've told me what I needed to know."

"Glad to be of help. If you need anything else, please let me know."

"I will. Thank you Gai-Sensei." She paused for a moment. "How is Lee-San doing now?"

It was clear that Gai still felt some guilt for not including his observations in his mission report. Tsunade had wiped the floor with him over that.

"He is much better, thank you. He still has a way to go to be fully recovered, if he ever does manage to get over it completely. But at least he is getting the help he needs now."

"That's good to hear. Bye Gai-Sensei. Keep me posted on how Lee is doing."

"I will. Look after yourself, Sakura-san."

Sakura decided to cope for the moment by throwing herself into her work. She had discussed her condition with Tsunade and of course she had decided to go ahead with the pregnancy. She also told Tsunade that she was keeping quiet about it for now. She didn't need people pointing fingers at the moment, and she really did need to talk to Kakashi about it first.

The weeks dragged on. On the 6th week after Kakashi had left, Tsunade was in her office when Pakkun arrived. She was quite surprised to see him.

"Tsunade-san," the small dog said, "Kakashi won't be back for a while yet."

"Is there a problem?" she asked.

"No, things are just a little more complicated than expected, but nothing outside the parameters of the mission. He should make it back soon with a bit of luck."

"That's good. I'll trust him to use his judgement."

"Can you tell me how Sakura is before I head back? I know he left under a bit of a cloud and I think he's a little worried about her."

"Oh, she's better than alright," Tsunade said, "I know she wants to see him when he gets back though. I think she'll be disappointed that he's going to be delayed."

Pakkun spotted the pink haired girl as she passed by Tsunade's open office door. "I see what you mean about better than alright," he said in amusement. His kind were quite perceptive. "Don't worry, I won't say anything. Some things are better said in person and we wouldn't want to distract him. After all, we do need him to come back in once piece."

"Thank you," Tsunade said simply as the dog left. Now she just had to tell Sakura about the delay. She was not going to be happy.

Sakura had taken the news about the delay fairly calmly, all things considered. At least she knew that Kakashi was all right. However, time dragged on for another 6 weeks and she began to get concerned.

She wanted to be the one to tell Kakashi her news, but she was starting to show. It wasn't much yet, only noticeable if you were looking for it, but inevitably people would begin to talk. She had even been avoiding Sasuke and Naruto as she was sure that they would notice immediately and Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut if he tried.

She had told Ino everything though, and her friend was very supportive, which was something that Sakura needed at the moment.

Eventually, Tsunade called Sakura to her office. She had some news.

"Sakura, Kakashi is back."

"Where is he?"

"Currently he's in the hospital."

"Is he alright?" Sakura was concerned.

"It's nothing life threatening, he's only in to be checked over and he's already given his mission report so you can go to see him before he disappears on us. We both know how much he hates hospitals. He's probably only still here because he's hoping you'll come and see him." Tsunade paused, "I suppose I'd better let you go for the day, I know you two have a lot to talk about." Sakura nodded, and thanked Tsunade. Tsunade gave her his room number and she left to go and see him.

As she reached his room, she grabbed some convenient towels and held them in font of her to make sure that he could not notice anything. Perhaps she was being silly but she was worried about how he would react, especially with what had happened on the morning he'd left. So she decided that she would see how things stood then tell him afterwards. Well, it was a plan of sorts.

She opened the door and peeked inside. "Kakashi?" she ventured into the room, "You're late!"

"Sakura." Kakashi was sat on the bed. He seemed happy and possibly a little relieved to see her. He shrugged, "I had to stop to help a little old lady with her shopping, but I came as soon as I could."

"Liar," she said with a smile, "How are you?"

"I've been worse. More importantly, how have you been?"

She walked up to the bed, placing the towels on the table now that she was too close for him to get a proper look at her. "I've been alright," she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run away like that, but finding that paper was a bit of a shock."

He sighed, "I understand. I'm sorry about that.I made that bet with Gai on the afternoon we got drunk, but we cancelled it afterwards. I should have thrown it away, but I had forgotten it was there. It was a stupid thing to do."

"I thought it might be something like that before I spoke to Gai and he confirmed it. I'm still not happy that I was the subject of such an idiotic scheme,but as long as you realize it was stupid..." They were silent for a few moments. "I missed you, you know." She said gently. She didn't resist as he pulled his mask down and kissed her soundly.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, then reluctantly, Sakura pulled away. "I have something to tell you."

He raised his visible eyebrow as he replaced his mask. "Oh?"

Sakura was silent for a few more moments, raising her courage. She had just opened her mouth to speak when the door burst open.

"Hey! Sakura-Chan! Kakashi Sensei!" It was Naruto, closely followed by Hinata and Sasuke. "Are you alright Kakashi Sensei? And hey Sakura-Chan, have you been putting on weight?"

Sakura went beet red in embarrassment. Kakashi shot a look at Naruto and then at Sakura. He could see exactly what Naruto meant now that it had been pointed out to him, but from the looks of it he didn't think it was simple weight gain. He looked back to the group by the door. "You lot. Out. Now." His tone brooked no argument. Hinata took Naruto's arm and dragged him out behind Sasuke.

Once the group had gone and the door was closed, Kakashi turned his attention back to the pink haired medic-nin. "Sakura?" he prompted.

Sakura sighed and sat on a convenient chair, suddenly feeling a bit wobbly. "After I refused to speak to you at my apartment that morning, I was feeling sick but I put it down to being upset. I had already decided to find you, and I'd gone to the medicine cabinet to get something to settle my stomach when I noticed…" she paused and took a deep breath, "I noticed that I had forgotten to take my contraceptive." She found that she couldn't speak anymore and she refused to look at him, not wanting to see if he reacted badly.

Kakashi sat there putting 2 and 2 together. To say he was stunned was an understatement. He had never really considered that he would ever be a father. He was quiet for a while, not quite knowing what to say, when he heard a whispered "I'm sorry." He looked up just in time to see the door closing as Sakura left the room.

Sakura was miserable. Kakashi would hate her now, she was sure of it She had sworn that she would not cry, but the hormones coursing through her system made that an impossible task. She ran past the group waiting outside the room without stopping.

"Sakura?" Naruto called as Hinata decided to go after the pink haired girl.

Sasuke looked on with concern. "Damn, what did that bastard do to her now?"

Naruto looked down the corridor in the direction that the two girls had gone. "Hinata will look after Sakura so let's go and ask him," he said in a dangerous tone as they turned to the door.

Hinata activated her Byakugan as she searched for Sakura. The once-shy young woman wasn't stupid, and she thought that she might just have some idea of what was going on with Sakura and her ex-teacher, especially after what Naruto had just blurted out.

Eventually she tracked her husband's team-mate down. She was sat near the children's playground, watching the youngsters playing at being Ninjas, smiling sadly.

Hinata approached slowly. "Sakura-chan?" she started, "Are you alright?"

Sakura sighed, "I don't know, Hinata-chan. My life is one big mess."

"Surely it can't be that bad?"

Sakura sighed and began to tell Hinata about the events that led up to this moment. Maybe she wouldn't be able to help her, but she knew that just talking could make things seem better.

She sighed once again as she reached the end of her tale. "…he didn't say anything so I just left. I think he's upset with me, and I don't blame him. Forgetting to take my contraceptive was the dumbest thing I've done in a long time."

"Sakura," Hinata tried to soothe her friend, "You just dropped a big bombshell on him. He came back to Konoha after being away for 3 months, probably not knowing for sure if you would even want to speak to him again, and then he discovers that he's going to be a father. He probably needs a little time to let it sink in, and I'm sure he doesn't blame you for what happened."

"You're probably right, but I still feel pretty stupid. I am supposed to be a Medic-Nin for heaven's sake!" She threw her hands up in exasperation at herself.

"So you'd be about 4 months along, right?"

"just about," the pink haired girl replied, "I'd been hoping to keep it quiet until I could talk to Kakashi about it, but it didn't stop Naruto noticing something at just the wrong moment."

"I'm sorry about that," the lavender eyed girl said, "I know that Naruto is not the most tactful of people."

"That's OK, Hinata it's not your fault. We wouldn't have him any other way, right?" Sakura smiled, then started as she felt a presence behind her. Both girls whirled round to find Kakashi being tailed closely by Naruto and Sasuke who were both looking a bit put out.

"Kakashi," Sakura whispered.

Naruto and Sasuke had just reached the door of Kakashi's room when it swung open and they came face to face with the copy-nin.

Naruto, of course, waded in with both feet. "OI, what the hell have you done to make Sakura-chan cry now?" Sasuke stood silently to one side, having decided to let the Blond Baka deal with this.

"That, for the moment, is between Sakura and myself," the masked man replied coolly

"Bullshit," Naruto yelled, "This isn't the first time you've upset her and I want some answers."

Naruto," Kakashi said patiently, "You of all people should know that relationships can be complicated." The fox boy was quiet for a moment, realizing this to be true, but he still wasn't happy

"What is all this noise?" the voice of Tsunade interrupted before Naruto could formulate a reply, "Don't you realize this is a hospital?" Naruto was able to look embarrassed whilst shooting filthy looks at the masked man. "Where do you think you are going Hatake-San?" Her eyes narrowed, "And where is Sakura?"

"I was just going to find her," the masked man met Tsunade's gimlet-like stare without flinching, "I think I may have handled things a little… badly."

Tsunade sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had a headache brewing and she needed a drink. "Fine, I think Shizune was about to come and release you anyway, so I'll let you go, not that I'd have been able to stop you."

"Thank you," he said simply as he walked past her with Sasuke following. Tsunade stopped Naruto before he could go any further.

"What is it, Tsunade-Baasan?"

"Give them a chance to talk, Naruto." Naruto didn't look happy about that. "For Sakura," she added.

Naruto nodded and headed after Kakashi and Sasuke. He didn't understand what was going on and he would listen to Tsunade for now, but if that Ero-Sensei upset Sakura again…

Tsunade watched the group as they left and shook her head in exasperation. Not for the first time she wondered what Sakura saw in someone like Kakashi. She headed off to find Shizune to inform her that Kakashi had been discharged, hoping that everything would turn out alright.

Sasuke and Naruto tailed the copy-ninja through the streets of Konoha as they searched for Sakura. Of course, the masked man could have lost the two young men, but he thought it might be better if he knew exactly where they were. The pair were having quite an animated conversation as they went.

"So do you know what's going on?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Hn," was the reply from Sasuke. Naruto took this as a yes.

"So what did he do?"

"If you'd thought about it for a moment you'd have worked it out for yourself."

"Ah, come on, just tell me."

"No, moron."

"Asshole. You think you are so clever…"

Kakashi was only half listening, lost in his own thoughts for the moment. He knew that he had handled Sakura's news badly but it had come as a real shock. It was strange how life could get complicated without even trying and he'd never imagined anything like this happening when he'd started seeing her. He knew that she blamed herself for forgetting to take her contraceptive, but he had stupidly assumed she was protected when he should have asked, which was something more expected of a teenager than a man of 33. It might have reminded her that she'd forgotten it at the very least. In the end it was just as much his fault as it was hers. It took two to tango after all…

He came back to himself as he realized that he'd found her. She was right in front of him, talking with Hinata and watching the children play in the park. She had her back to him and he could just overhear the tail end of her conversation. Then she turned and saw him. He heard her whisper his name.

"Yo," he said in his usual nonchalant way, visible eye crinkled up in a smile.

As soon as Hinata had seen the older man she had got up and begun encouraging Naruto to give Sakura and Kakashi some privacy.

Naruto was protesting loudly. He didn't want to leave.

"Naruto, I really think we should leave them to work it out between themselves. They have a lot to talk about." Hinata said reasonably. Hinata wasn't jealous over Naruto's over-protectiveness, she understood how deep the bonds of each team ran. After all, she'd had to deal with the same kind of things from her own team when she'd started seeing Naruto.

"But…"

"Damn it, Dobe, do you like people interfering in your relationship with Hinata?" Sasuke was to the point, knowing that very thing had happened several times.

"Of course not…"

"Well isn't this the same thing?"

Naruto considered a moment, then gave the point grudgingly, "Ok, I get it. But he'd better not upset her again." The trio settled to keep an eye on the couple from a reasonable distance.

As Sakura continued to sit there in silence, Kakashi decided to go and sit next to her.

After a few more moments he decided to speak. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"As alright as I can be," she stared at the floor.

He sighed and leaned back. "I'm sorry," he said, "It was a bit of a surprise you know. Not exactly what I was expecting to find when I returned."

"I understand," she said quietly. She absentmindedly put a protective arm across her abdomen.

He looked at her, noting her depressed demeanor. It looked as though she had convinced herself that he was going to leave her to cope on her own, but he wasn't that type of person, and he cared too much about her to hurt her in that way. He sighed as he got up.

Sakura continued to stare at the floor, not wanting to see the disappointment in Kakashi's visible eye. She was suddenly surprised to find him crouching in front of her and she looked up despite herself.

"Sakura, I thought you trusted me," he said gently, "I'm not upset with you. It's a shock and a lot to take in, but it's nothing that we can't work through together, right?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Sakura beathed a sigh of relief. That was far better than she had expected. they stood up and came together into an embrace.

The moment was broken by a shout from Naruto, "She's what?"

Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other and smiled. Some things never changed.

But she was sure from now on that everything would be alright.

LOOK! I put Hinata in this chapter! – I know I haven't had her in before, but I figured that seeing as I've mentioned her a few times, I should put her in somewhere before the fic was over. LOL (I thought about using Ino instead, but she's had her share of screen time, and she wouldn't have fitted this part.)

Thanks to -

BBKarateGrl - Yeah, I know that not everyone likes lemons. I don't mind reading them on occasion myself though. If I had managed to write one I would have made it "off site." I know FF net's policy on "NC-17" stuff, having been around when all that kicked off back in September 2002. Glad you enjoyed it though!

Cuito - I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's reactions like that that make it worthwhile.

'Me' - glad to hear you have your comp working again. I thought you'd just stopped reading XD.

lonniexxqt - I'm happy you think I've managed to keep them in character. It's been quite hard to do, so in case I slipped I put the warning about OOC's in - well - Lee was OOC at the very least :-P. I'm going to try and continue to write, but it depends on inspiration. I might have more luck with that when I finally get this story (and the alternate one shot I'm working on) put to bed and I can move on.

Kakashidiot - It is? well if it is, it's not from a movie I've ever seen, not that I'm really into watching movies. (I am looking forward to seeing Kung Fu Hustle though...) Nice to hear you enjoyed it so much. :-D

Also thanks to - Senx2, Catc10, Freakenout, Ruka-Kun, Hao'sAnjul, December Jewel, Zezura, and Kathleen. I can't beleive I got so many reviews for chapter 7!

Sorry to all those that want it to be longer. It just seemed to come naturally to a close, and if I'd tried to force it on I would probably have ended up in a right mess!

Stay tuned for the Epilogue though. I've tried to inject a little humor in there just to finish off. XD

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	10. Epilogue

So, welcome back to what is probably going to be the final part of this story. I have got an idea floating around for a second epilogue, but I'm not sure how good it's going to be.

Disclaimer - I still don't own Naruto - characters may be OOC - This story was written for fun :-D

Thanks to TDotShia for giving me the encouragement to finish and post it.

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Epilogue

Jiraiya, the toad Sannin was wandering through the streets of Konoha having just returned after being away for almost a year. He wondered why it was so quiet. He had not seen a single Ninja since his arrival, which was pretty strange.

He walked through the corridors towards the Hokage's office. Clerical types were here and there, but Tsunade was conspicuous by her absence.

Wondering what the hell was going on he stopped a random passer by. "Hey, where is everyone?" he asked.

"They are all at a wedding," came the reply. "It's being held up at the memorial."

The toad Sannin was surprised. He didn't think he'd ever heard of anyone having a wedding at the memorial before. "Is every Ninja in the village up there or something?"

"Most of them are, yes. Now if you'll excuse me."

Jiraiya watched the person he had stopped leave, then bopped himself on the head. He hadn't even asked whose wedding it was. Oh well, he would just have to go up there and find out.

Besides, there were always plenty of pretty girls at a wedding.

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Up at the memorial, all the preparations were now complete. Almost every ninja in the village, plus a few from other villages, were there to witness this occasion. Lee was notable by his absence. Although he had been invited, Sakura's relief had been obvious when he had declined stating that it would not be appropriate for him to be there. He had taken a mission to ensure that he would be out of town on the big day.

Inside the tent that had been set up for the women to prepare, Sakura was nervous. She was currently in her 6th month of pregnancy and she was certain that she looked awful. "Ino, are you sure I look ok?" she asked.

Sakura was wearing a simple off-white dress that did not accent her growing stomach. She had a simple band of white blossoms in her hair and she held a matching bouquet. No ninja paraphernalia for her today. Well, she didn't expect to be in any danger with so many Ninjas in attendance.

Ino, who was helping her get ready along with Hinata, tried once again to put her mind at rest. "You look radiant, Sakura. You'll knock his socks off."

Hinata murmured agreement, "You look wonderful, Sakura-Chan."

"So how late do you think he's going to be?" Ino asked. "You do know they are running a book on it?"

"Yeah, I heard about that," Sakura was faintly amused, "but I don't think he will be all that late with Iruka hurrying him along."

"Damn, I forgot about that," Ino said.

"How late did you bet he'd be, Ino-Chan?" Hinata asked.

"57 minutes." Ino replied.

"My money is on 23," Hinata replied.

"I don't believe you two!" Sakura said looking outraged, then she burst into laughter. "Oh never mind, but if he is 57 minutes late I'm gonna be pissed."

Ino and Hinata looked at each other. "And you should never upset a pregnant woman," they chorused.

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As Naruto and Sasuke had been waiting for Kakashi to make his appearance, Naruto had spotted a familiar face making its way towards the party.

"Watch out, here comes trouble," he said under his breath to Sasuke. "Oi! Ero-Sennin!" the recently passed out Jounin called out to the white haired man, "long time no see!"

"Don't call me Ero-Sennin!" Jiraiya blustered to the younger man, "You'll ruin my chances with all the lovely ladies here."

"Che, as if you ever had a chance," Sasuke muttered. He was still Chuunin, but was hoping to make Jounin soon.

The Sannin narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, but decided to let it drop. "So, just who is getting married that everything has to stop for them?"

"If you look behind you, you'll see the groom coming now." Naruto gestured towards Iruka and Kakashi who were approaching rapidly.

"Eh? Iruka is getting married?"

"Actually it's Kakashi-Sensei who is getting married." Sasuke supplied.

Jiraiya was stunned, "No way!" he said, "I never expected that he would be the type." He considered for a few moments then asked, "So who is the lucky lady?"

"No time for that now, Jiraiya," Tsunade had noticed the arrival of the old man and thought that she had better take a hand. "If you are staying then take a seat," she levelled a fierce glare at him, "And stay out of trouble. If you ruin this day you'll have to become a missing nin to escape the retribution that will pour upon you!"

Jiraiya held his hands up. "Ok, I'll behave," he said quickly and he quietly took a seat. If even Tsunade was involved…

He decided that it would be best for his health if he was just to do as he was told and stay out of the way.

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As it happened Kakashi had only been 12 minutes late. Inuzuka Kiba gave a whoop as he realised that he'd won the bet, and Akamaru yipped happily. The rest of the congregation gave them filthy looks.

Ino and Hinata looked at each other. "Shit." They chorused. Sakura giggled. They spent a few more moments making sure that Sakura looked absolutely perfect, then they stepped out ready to begin the approach.

Sakura was flanked by Naruto and Sasuke who were both giving her away. Sakura had decided that they could both do it, seeing as otherwise there would have been a huge argument, and it just wasn't worth the trouble. Naruto had been more than a bit put out with Kakashi when he had first heard that Sakura was pregnant, but after Sakura had a long talk with him, he accepted that it was what she wanted, and eventually had even managed to be happy for her.

She wished that her parents could be here to witness this event, but they had been missing for several years, having gone on a mission that they had never returned from. Sakura had never really given up hope that they would return, but she knew that the chances of that were now next to nothing. She sighed as she realized that they probably wouldn't have been too happy with the circumstances surrounding this day.

She settled her bouquet in front of her as the music started and she walked forward.

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Jiraiya boggled at the sight of Sakura when she appeared. Who would ever have thought that Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura would find a match in each other.

He boggled again as he noticed that she was pregnant. Damn, he'd never have seen that coming either. No wonder Tsunade had threatened him like that.

He really did need to be on his best behaviour, at least for the moment. Mind you… once the drinks had started flowing at the reception, things were probably fair game. He settled back, content to wait for now, looking forward to the mischief he could get into later

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Kakashi stood at the front with Iruka who was doing his best to keep the silver haired man calm. Kakashi was fidgeting, the suit he was wearing being much more constricting than the ninja garb he was used to, and not for the first time that day he wondered how on earth he had got into this.

Of course, Kakashi was still wearing his mask, but he had foregone the forehead protector for a simple eye-patch and his unruly hair fell a lot freer without the constriction of the forehead protector to hold it in place.

Iruka put his hand on Kakashi's shoulder as the music began, and the masked man turned around to see Sakura approaching. His breath was taken away, she looked absolutely radiant. If he had any doubt in his mind that he was doing the right thing, it was washed away by the sight of her.

As she approached, his mind returned to the night he had asked her the big question.

oooo FLASHBACK oooo

It had been a couple of weeks since his return, and he and Sakura were lying in bed, doing the whole "afterglow" thing. He was absently rubbing the gentle swell of her abdomen, and it suddenly came to him just how lucky he was. He was in bed with a beautiful and willing young woman who was expecting his child, which was something that he never thought he'd have. There was only one thing missing, and he was afraid to ask her in case she said no.

'Hah', one might think, 'but surely the great copy-ninja of Konoha is not afraid of anything,' but he was afraid of this. If he asked and she said no then surely things would never be the same, and he found that he didn't want to lose what he had.

But still… she might say yes…

He sighed and propped himself up on his elbow so he could look into the face of his lover. Her emerald eyes looked back at him full of emotion. Now they had never used the dreaded L word, but they each knew how the other felt. It was almost as if saying it out loud would make it… cheaper somehow.

"Sakura," he hesitated, "Would you let me make an honest woman of you?" It might seem too soon to be thinking of such things, but considering that he had already got her pregnant… He was the kind of person that took his responsibilities seriously, even if outward appearances belied that fact.

Sakura looked at him in shock, "Was that a Proposal?"

He looked embarrassed, "Ah, yes. I'll understand if you say no." Damn, maybe it had been too soon to ask.

Sakura considered for a few moments. This had come completely out of the blue and she was quite stunned. She would be lying to herself if she hadn't secretly entertained the idea of marriage, but she had thought that it would be a long time coming, if ever, and she had decided not to push for it, being content with the fact that he was with her. Still, he had asked and she needed to give him an answer.

She came to a decision, then decided to put the poor man out of his misery. "Hmm… I suppose Hatake Sakura does have a kind of ring to it…"

"Was that a yes?" he asked. Sakura nodded, then he kissed her with renewed ardour.

It would be a while before either of them got any sleep that night.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After that, preparations for the wedding had begun in earnest. Initially they had wanted it to be a quiet affair, but that notion was soon blown out of the water when they realised that almost every ninja in Konoha, plus a few from other villages, would want to attend. Then they had the headache of finding somewhere that could hold all of those people.

It was then that Sakura had tentatively suggested that they hold it outdoors at the memorial. At first Kakashi had been unsure, but once he'd thought about it for a while he found that it would be quite fitting really.Their past would be present as they began their future.

There was a lot of work to do to get things ready in time as Sakura did not want to be walking down the aisle as she was about to give birth and they had decided that they really wanted it over and done with before the baby arrived. Tsunade really had to pull some strings to help them out, but everything was ready within a reasonably short amount of time.

oooooEND FLASHBACKooooo

Before Kakashi knew it, Sakura was beside him and Iruka was producing the rings. Then they were exchanging their vows and suddenly it was all over – except for one last thing.

You could see almost the whole congregation lean forward at the words "you may now kiss the bride."

Everyone held their breath as Kakashi reached up to his mask. Sweat pooled on the floor as the tension mounted… he was finally going to show his face in public…

At the crucial moment, Sakura raised her bouquet to block everyone's view. A massive facefault ensued, with the exception of Hinata, who had activated her Byakugan and was standing there with a blush on her face.

Sakura and Kakashi laughed. They had planned this from the start and it had gone off perfectly. It had been so obvious why so many people had wanted to attend that it was almost a shame to disappoint them. Almost.

They moved apart, Kakashi's mask back in place, then arm in arm they went forward through the chaos to begin their married life together.

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Authors Notes

And it's finally done. I hope you all enjoyed the story! What a rollercoaster ride! I had completely forgotten what it was like to write a story like this.

I know I've never mentioned Sakura's parents before now, it just never came up. I suppose I could have left them out altogether, but then I'm sure I'd have had someone going "Hey? What about Sakura's Parents? Where are they?" so I put that in to explain it. Actually, that's what gave me the idea for the second epilogue. If it does come out ok, I'll post it, but I'm not quite sure it's going to work out yet.

Whatever, it's probably going to have to wait until I've finished working on the alternate 'One Shot' version that I briefly mentioned in the authors notes right at the beginning of this fic. It's not quite going in the direction I thought it would, (Funny how stories like to do that,) but I've really enjoyed writing it so far. It's also come out a helluva lot bigger than I expected it to, with it being just about to break the 10,000 word mark! If I manage to finish it, and if I think it's anywhere near good enough (and so far it's promising on both counts,) i'll post it. But because it's so long, even though its supposed to be a one-shot, I'm considering breaking it into at least 3 chapters.

I just hope that after I'm done with this, it's not another three years before inspiration strikes me again! XD

Also I've just joined LiveJournal and the KakaSaku community. Thanks to all the nice reviews I've got I'm thinking about linking this story up on there, but I'm just trying to raise the courage to do it. (yes, even after all the nice reviews I've got on here, I'm still fretting about it XD)

Thanks to -

TDotShia - see, told you it was better :-D And you won't find the other ending unless you saved it to your comp cos I removed all the chapters after about 4 from my blog a while back XD. I still haven't got round to putting them back! And I'll let you see that one shot after I finish it - promise!

Also thanks to Senx2, Catc10, Ruka-Kun, Kakashidiot, December Jewel, Zezura, Angel Yuriko, Hao's Anjul, ERALDA (even if I'm not quite sure where you are coming from with your review,) Queen of the Fairys, Freakenout and Angelic Warrior.

Plus thanks to anyone else who reviewed during the story, and to the people who didn't review but added me to favorites/alerts lists.

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